Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1971 Dec;24(9):816–821. doi: 10.1136/jcp.24.9.816

The detection of myoglobin in urine and its distinction from normal and variant haemoglobins

F E Boulton 1, R G Huntsman 1
PMCID: PMC477191  PMID: 5139988

Abstract

Victims of severe injuries frequently pass haemoglobin, myoglobin, or both proteins in their urine. If the kidneys of such persons are to be considered as donor material for transplantation, a pathology department may be requested to identify which of these pigments is present. If freshly passed urine is available, haemoglobinuria in the absence of myoglobinuria may be rapidly identified by spectroscopy. However, the rapid degradation of myoglobin to the met-myoglobin form will make spectroscopic recognition of this pigment in the urine unreliable. In the absence of variant haemoglobins, myoglobin may be easily distinguished from normal haemoglobin by routine electrophoresis on paper, starch gel, or cellulose acetate at alkaline pH. The electrophoretic method of choice in the presence of variant haemoglobins utilizes polyacrylamide gel at 12 g/100 ml as a supporting medium. At this concentration, the migration both of haemoglobin and its variants is sufficiently retarded to allow the easy recognition of myoglobin.

Full text

PDF
816

Images in this article

818Image
on p.818
819Image
on p.819
820Image
on p.820

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. AWAD E., CAMERON B., KOTITE L. Chromatographic separation of haemoglobin and myoglobin on "Sephadex" gel. Nature. 1963 Jun 22;198:1201–1202. doi: 10.1038/1981201a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. BERENBAUM M. C., BIRCH C. A., MORELAND J. D. Paroxysmal myoglobinuria. Lancet. 1955 Apr 30;268(6870):892–896. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(55)90380-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. BLONDHEIM S. H., MARGOLIASH E., SHAFRIR E. A simple test for myohemoglobinuria (myoglobinuria). J Am Med Assoc. 1958 May 24;167(4):453–454. doi: 10.1001/jama.1958.72990210001009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. BOYER S. H., FAINER D. C., NAUGHTON M. A. Myoglobin: in herited structural variation in man. Science. 1963 Jun 14;140(3572):1228–1231. doi: 10.1126/science.140.3572.1228-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Boulton F. E., Huntsman R. G., Yawson G. I., Romero Herrera A. E., Lorkin P. A., Lehmann H. The second variant of human myoglobin; 138(H16) arginine leads to glutamine. Br J Haematol. 1971 Jan;20(1):69–74. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1971.tb00787.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. CRADOCK-WATSON J. E., FENTON J. C., LEHMANN H. Tris buffer for the demonstration of haemoglobin A2 by paper electrophoresis. J Clin Pathol. 1959 Jul;12:372–373. doi: 10.1136/jcp.12.4.372. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. DUMA R. J., TRIGG J. W., HAMMACK W. J. Primary myoglobinuria. A case report emphasizing recent diagnostic techniques. Ann Intern Med. 1962 Jan;56:97–104. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-56-1-97. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. ELEK S. D., ANDERSON H. F. Paroxysmal paralytic myoglobinuria. Br Med J. 1953 Sep 5;2(4835):533–536. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.4835.533. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Eliot R. S., Shafer R. B., Gibas M. A. Demonstration of myoglobinemia in football players. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1967 May;48(5):229–232. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. GRAHAM J. L., GRUNBAUM B. W. A rapid method for microelectrophoresis and quantitation of hemoglobins on cellulose acetate. Am J Clin Pathol. 1963 Jun;39:567–578. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/39.6.567. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Marti H. R., Beale D., Lehmann H. Haemoglobin Koelliker: a new acquired haemoglobin appearing after severe haemolysis: alpha-2 minus 141 Arg beta-2. Acta Haematol. 1967;37(4):174–180. doi: 10.1159/000209067. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. ORNSTEIN L. DISC ELECTROPHORESIS. I. BACKGROUND AND THEORY. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1964 Dec 28;121:321–349. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1964.tb14207.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. PRANKERD T. A. Electrophoretic properties of myoglobin and its character in sickle-cell diseases and paroxysmal myoglobinuria. Br J Haematol. 1956 Jan;2(1):80–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1956.tb06687.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Vesterberg O. Isoelectric fractionation, analysis, and characterization of ampholytes in natural pH gradients. V. Separation of myoglobins and studies on their electro-chemical differences. Acta Chem Scand. 1967;21(1):206–216. doi: 10.3891/acta.chem.scand.21-0206. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. WHISNANT C. L., Jr, OWINGS R. H., CANTRELL C. G., COOPER G. R. Primary idiopathic myoglobinuria in a Negro female: its implications and a new method of laboratory diagnosis. Ann Intern Med. 1959 Jul;51(1):140–150. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-51-1-140. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wrigley C. W. Analytical fractionation of plant and animal proteins by gel electrofocusing. J Chromatogr. 1968 Aug 27;36(3):362–365. doi: 10.1016/s0021-9673(01)92959-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES