Mechanical precipitation of hemoglobin Köln

Hb Koln ( β 98 Val → Met) was found to precipitate rapidly during mechanical shaking. The rate of precipitation of Hb Koln is 5–6 times faster than that of Hb S. The kinetics of precipitation of the patient's hemolysate, which is a mixture of Hb Koln and Hb A, showed a biphasic curve indicating that Hb Koln precipitates independently from Hb A. The instability of Hb Koln may be attributed to the conformational change in the vicinity of heme. The mechanical shaking may be used as a new method for detection and quantitation of hemoglobin Koln and other unstable hemoglobins.