The simulation shows individual hemoglobin S molecules linking into rigid polymer fibers as oxygen tension drops, and reveals the sharp concentration and oxygen thresholds above which red blood cells deform into the sickle shape.
Adjust the oxygen tension and HbS concentration sliders independently to find the polymerization threshold, and watch the red blood cell deform in real time in the 3D view as fibers accumulate inside it.
Sliders for oxygen tension and hemoglobin S concentration, with a rotatable 3D view of fiber formation and cell deformation
Sickle cell disease was the first illness ever traced to a specific molecular defect, when Linus Pauling showed in 1949 that sickle hemoglobin behaved differently in an electrical field, coining the term molecular disease.
The simulation shows individual hemoglobin S molecules linking into rigid polymer fibers as oxygen tension drops, and reveals the sharp concentration and oxygen thresholds above which red blood cells deform into the sickle shape.
The simulation shows individual hemoglobin S molecules linking into rigid polymer fibers as oxygen tension drops, and reveals the sharp concentration and oxygen thresholds above which red blood cells deform into the sickle shape.
Adjust the oxygen tension and HbS concentration sliders independently to find the polymerization threshold, and watch the red blood cell deform in real time in the 3D view as fibers accumulate inside it.
Sickle cell disease was the first illness ever traced to a specific molecular defect, when Linus Pauling showed in 1949 that sickle hemoglobin behaved differently in an electrical field, coining the term molecular disease.