Figure 7.

The pharmacokinetics of wtHbF and the αA12D/A19D mutant were analyzed in plasma and urine samples at four different time-points (5 min, 2, 6, and 24 h, n = 5 per time point and Hb variant) by ELISA. Data is presented as mean ± SD. Differences are determined by independent t-tests with p < 0.05 significance level. The gray area in the graphs shows the signal of the non-injected control (n = 5). Panels (A) and (B) show the results of the plasma analysis, and no difference is seen for the two first time points at 5 min and 2 h, but at 6 and 24 h, significantly more αA12D/A19D mutant is detected compared to wtHbF. (C) In urine, the concentration of Hb was found to be similar between the mice injected with either wtHbF or αA12D/A19D, except for at 6 h, where a significant difference is seen with αA12D/A19D having a higher concentration than wtHbF. (D) The albumin assay showed that the concentration of albumin in the urine with either protein variant was similar at each time point.