Oval Blood Cells in Human Subjects Tested for Linkage with Taste for Ptc, Mid-Digital Hair, Hair Color, a-B Agglutinogens, and Sex.

FIELD study was undertaken in 1939 by WYANDT in order to A collect human pedigrees showing oval red blood cells. The rare but non-pathological condition of elliptical erythrocytes was apparently known in medicine even before the first published account which we have been able to locate (DRESBACH 1904)~ but its hereditary nature was not well established until 1929 (HUNTER and ADAMS). CHENEY (1932) first reported the trait to be a simple Mendelian dominant on the basis of a threegeneration pedigree, and STRAUSS and DALAND (1937) furnished confirmation from another three-generation pedigree. Several other cases of familial elliptocytosis have been reported subsequently. In a forthcoming paper WYANDT will publish pedigrees on oval cells in three family lines involving more than a hundred individuals. Her investigation confirms the dominant mode of unit inheritance suggested by previous less extensive studies. During the course of WYANDT’S field study it was possible for her to gather data upon several additional traits that could be used as test factors in a search for linkage. Taste for PTC (phenyl-thio-carbamide) was investigated by the use of filter paper dipped into a saturated acetone solution of the compound, dried, and cut into pieces I cm square, excepting in a family represented by two sibships to whom PTC crystals on the tip of a moistened tooth pick were presented. The presence or absence of hairs over the middle phalanx of the fingers (exclusive of thumbs) was determined by examining both hands in daylight (with the exception of one sibship which was examined by electric light). An effort was made to detect fine, nearly invisible hair and to note the presence of hair follicles. When follicles were seen, hair was reported as present even if no hair was visible. Hair color was matched a t the back of the head, close to the scalp, to hair samples of standard shades (the “Shur-on” scale manufactured by Schwerner, Oppenheim Co., New York). Examination was made by daylight (except for one sibship which was seen by electric light).