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A turbidimetric micro test for the diagnosis of hereditary spherocytosis.

In hereditary spherocytosis (HS) there is an abnormality in the erythrocyte membrane resulting in an abnormal erythrocyte form and increased haemolysis. Spectrin deficiency and spectrin abnormalities are described as the principal underlying cause of these membrane defects (see for recent review Becker & Lux 1985). The increased osmotic fragility of the erythrocytes, together with the well-known features of haemolysis, are the key to the diagnosis of HS. The classical osmotic fragility test (Dacie & Lewis 1984) is known to be very laborious and in many cases the results are difficult to interpret, even after 24 h incubation at 37°C, so other diagnostic tests were developed, as for instance the acidified glycerol lysis test (Zanella et al. 1980). In this paper we present a very sensitive and fast turbidimetric micro assay for the determination of the osmotic fragility of the erythrocytes.