Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Articles, Vol. 168, No. 1 (1993) 233-242 TRACE ELEMENTS IN SICKLE CELL DISEASE M. A. DUROSINMI,* J. O. OJO,** A. K OLUWOLE,** O. A. AKANLE, ~ W. ARSHED,*** N. M. SPYROU*** *Department of Haematology andImmunology, ObafemiAwolowo University, lle-lfe (Nigeria) **Departmentof Physics, Obafemi Awolowo University, lle-lfe, (Nigeria) **~ of Physics, UniversiO, of Surrey, Guldford (UK) (Received September 22, 1992) Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) and Proton-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) analysis (employed as a complementary technique) have been used to determine the concentration of 11 elements in blood samples and its components erythrocytes and plasma obtained from three groups of subjects in Nigeria viz: sickle cell anaemia (SCA) subjects, subjets with sickle cell trait and normal control subjects. The results suggest that SCA subjects have significantly higher concentrations of Na, CI, Ca and Cu in their whole blood and erythrocytes and a higher concentration of CI and Cu in their plasma relative to the control subjects. Furthermore, a significantly lower concentration of K, be, Zn, Se, Br and Rb were found in the whole blood and erythrocytes of the SCA subjects as compared to the controls while the concentration of K and Fe in the plasma of the SCA subjects were however, found to be significantly higher than that of the control group. The study also shows that there was no significant differences between the concentration of these 11 elements in the group with sickle cell trait and the normal control group. Introduction Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder of haemoglobin formation of which the most common and severe type is sickle cell anaemia (SCA). There are about 300 different types of haemoglobin and the most common type is haemoglobin A (HbA). Most people inherit HbA from both parents but sickle cell anaemia occurs when most of the haemoglobin in the red cell (over fifty percent) is of sickle haemoglobin (HbS) type. It is given this name because it causes the red blood cell to become sickle or crescent shape when it gives up oxygen. Although SCA is present from birth, symptoms are rare before the ages of 3 to 6 months since a large percentage of the erythrocyte haemoglobin is of the fetal type (HbF). As more HbS replaces HbF in the subject, the main symptoms, episodes of anaemia, pain and infection, called crises, become manifest due to irreversible sickling of the erythrocytes when the HhS molecules polymerize, invariably leading to vaso-occlusion in the smaller capillaries. Elsevier Sequoia S. A,, Lausanne A kad(miai Kiad6, Badapest