Glycosylation and acetylation of hemoglobin in infants of normal and diabetic mothers.

The minor hemoglobins, which are formed post-translationally by acetylation or glycosylation, were studied in cord blood from 34 newborn infants. There were 9 normal infants, 8 infants of gestational (chemical) diabetics, and 17 infants of insulin-dependent diabetics. Among these groups, no significant differences in the acetylated fetal (FI) or other minor hemoglobin fractions were found by either isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels or chromatography on DEAE-cellulose columns. These studies emphasize the technical limitations of detecting small amounts of glycosylated hemoglobin in newborns. The biological implications of the acetylated fetal hemoglobin fraction remain obscure.