Objective To determine the composition of abnormal red cell membrane skeletin. Methods By sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of ghostcorpuscles, we quantified the amount of protein by densitometric evaluation.Results The results showed that in β-thalassernia, the amount of spectrin, 4.5 protein and globin significantly increased compared with the controls (26.05 + 1.46, 21.69 + 1.86; 22.87 + 5.61, 12.99 +2.33; 15.23+3.31 and 4.97+2.73, respectively, P＜0.05).Conclusion These data suggest that the erythrocyte membrane protein composition matched with globin in patients with β-thalassemia of the racial Li minority are different from the normal control. These factors increase rigidity but decrease deformability of the β-thalassemic red cell membrane, which may lead to hemolytic anemia.
