DEPARTMENT OF NUTRITION OF FOOD SCIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

PEARL EFA FIAGBOR

10846869

GROUP 11

NUTN 303

PRACTICAL TWO (2)

BLOOD II – ESTIMATION OF HAEMOGLOBIN

15TH MARCH, 2022

Haemoglobin is an iron-rich protein found in the red blood cell that transports oxygen from the

lungs to other parts of the body. It is also responsible for the red colour of blood. Blood

haemoglobin levels usually vary from one person to the other, with males having higher levels

than women. Haemoglobin develops in cells that become red blood cells in the bone marrow.it

takes up about 70% of iron in the body. Anaemia caused by inadequate intake of dietary iron is

characterised by production of thinner, smaller pale red blood cells which are deficient in

haemoglobin (Fucharoen and Weatherall, 2012).

A haemoglobin test measures the amount of haemoglobin in the blood. The normal blood

haemoglobin range for men is between 14.0-17.5g/dL and that 12.3-15.3g/dL. Various methods

can be used to estimate haemoglobin in the lab. These methods include using the hemocue

haemoglobin photometer or by using the cyanmethemoglobin method. Haemoglobin estimation

provides important data that can be used in the examination of certain diseases and condition

such as anaemia and sickle cell syndrome (Whitehead et al, 2019).

AIMS

The aim of this experiment is to determine haemoglobin content using the hemocue and the

cyanmethomoglobin method.
PROCEDURE

The experiment was carried out as stated on pages 29 and 30 0f the level 300 Nutrition

laboratory practicals handbook.

MATERIALS

Hemocue photometer

Test tubes

Drabkin's solution

Pipette
 RESULTS

TABLE 1- A TABLE OF HEMOGLOBIN COUNTS, CONCETRATIONS AND

ABSORBANCE OF BLOOD SAMPLES.

GROUP SEX HAEMOGLOBIN ABSORBANCE H/C (DRABKIN'S SOLN) MCHC

COUNT(HEMOCUE) g/dL

g/L

1 F 10.8 0.196 5.77 13.74

F 11.5 0.248 7.30 17.38

2 F 11.3 0.398 11.72 27.90

F 9.8 0.440 12.96 30.88

3 F 9.2 0.431 12.69 30.21

F 10.6 0.487 14.34 34.14

4 F 12.8 0.607 17.86 35.38

M 10.8 0.325 9.57 20.36

5 F 10.9 0.745 21.95 52.19

M 12.2 0.438 12.90 27.44

6 F 12.0 0.508 14.96 35.62

F 12.4 0.624 18.38 43.76

7 F 11.5 0.554 16.32 38.86

M 13.5 0.182 5.36 11.40

Key

M – male F – female MHCH – Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration

Estimation of blood haemoglobin can be done to determine the presence and severity of anaemia,

screen polycythemia and assess response to specific therapy in anaemia. It can also be done to

estimate red blood cell indices and select blood donors. From the experiment, most of the

samples recorded hemoglobin counts that are within the normal range, which is14-17.4g/dL for

men and 12-16g/dL for women. In cases where the sample had a higher than normal hemoglobin

concentration, there could be cases of polycythemia, heart failure and chronic obstructive

pulmonary disease, or the hemoglobin concentration was falsely raised due to severe

dehydration, burns or acute hemorrhage. High hemoglobin levels can be caused by

polycythemia, heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Low hemoglobin

concentrations may be an indication of anemia, iron deficiency, liver disease, cancer and other

diseases and hypothyroidism or a false count due to pregnancy or hypervolemia (Srivastava et al,

2014).

The graphs show a linear relationship between absorbance and hemoglobin concentration,

indicating that absorbance depends on the concentration of hemoglobin in the red blood cells.

This result was expected because absorption is directly proportional to concentration, according

to Beer’s law, hence as the amount of hemoglobin increases, absorption of iron also increases

(Mayerhöfer et al, 2019). The normal MCHC value is 35g/dL for adults. A low mean corpuscular

hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) shows that someone's red blood cells do not have enough

hemoglobin or hypochromic anemia. A high MCHC means that hemoglobin is more

concentrated than usual and may occur in a few ways. For instance, hemoglobin becomes more

concentrated when red blood cells break down. MCHC is often increased in people who smoke

and may also be falsely increased due to cold agglutinin disease (Etim et al, 2014).
CONCLUSION

The hemocue hemoglobin photometer and cyanmethemoglobin method are effective methds that

can be used to estimate hemoglobin counts and help in better assessment of anemia and other

hemoglobin related diseases and syndromes.

Fucharoen, S., & Weatherall, D. J. (2012). The hemoglobin E thalassemias. Cold Spring Harbor

perspectives in medicine, 2(8), a011734.

Tanushree Srivastava, Himanshu Negandhi, Sutapa B Neogi, Jyoti Sharma and Renu Saxena.

Methods for Hemoglobin Estimation (2014): A Review of “what works”. Journal of Hematology

and Transfusion ;2(3):1028.

Whitehead Jr, R. D., Mei, Z., Mapango, C., & Jefferds, M. E. D. (2019). Methods and analyzers

for hemoglobin measurement in clinical laboratories and field settings. Annals of the New York

Academy of Sciences, 1450(1), 147-171.

Nkrumah, B., Nguah, S. B., Sarpong, N., Dekker, D., Idriss, A., May, J., & Adu-Sarkodie, Y.

(2011). Hemoglobin estimation by the HemoCue® portable hemoglobin photometer in a

resource poor setting. BMC clinical pathology, 11(1), 1-6.

Mayerhöfer, T. G., Pipa, A. V., & Popp, J. (2019). Beer's Law‐Why Integrated Absorbance

Depends Linearly on Concentration. ChemPhysChem, 20(21), 2748-2753.

Etim, N. N., Williams, M. E., Akpabio, U., & Offiong, E. E. (2014). Haematological parameters

and factors affecting their values. Agricultural Science, 2(1), 37-47.