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hemoglobin

Function: - oxygen transport protein of erythrocytes - hemoglobin can bind up to 4 O2 molecules - oxygen-binding capacity of 1.34 mL of O2 per gram of hemoglobin; this increases the total blood oxygen capacity ~ 70 fold compared to dissolved oxygen in blood - carries 10% of CO2 in blood bound to globin chain - carries nitric oxide (NO) bound to globin thiol - hemoglogin releases NO at the same time as O2 Structure: - tetramer, generally heterotetramer of - 2 hemoglobin alpha chains - 2 hemoglobin beta chains - hemoglobin Barts in an exception - each chain is associated with 1 heme moeity Compartment: - cytoplasm Expression: - expressed in erythrocytes & erythroid precursors - hemoglobin is also found in - CNS - dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra - astrocytes in the cerebral cortex & hippocampus - mature oligodendrocytes - outside CNS - macrophages - alveolar cells - mesangial cells in the kidney Pathology: - see hemoglobinopathy Laboratory: - hemoglobin in specimen - hemoglobin in reticulocytes - hemoglobin in body fluid - hemoglobin in blood - hemoglobin variant in blood - hemoglobin subtype in blood - hemoglobin in CSF - hemoglobin.gastrointestinal in body fluid - hemoglobin in pericardial fluid - hemoglobin in peritoneal fluid - hemoglobin in pleural fluid - hemoglobin in synovial fluid - free hemoglobin in serum/plasma - hemoglobin in stool - hemoglobin in urine - hemoglobin electrophoresis

Related

heme heme catabolism heme synthesis hemoglobin (Hgb) in blood hemoglobin electrophoresis hemoglobinopathy mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC)

Specific

carboxyhemoglobin deoxyhemoglobin glycated hemoglobin hemoglobin A hemoglobin A2 hemoglobin F hemoglobin Gower-1 hemoglobin Gower-2 hemoglobin Portland hemoglobin-variant methemoglobin (MetHb, Hi) oxyhemoglobin sulfhemoglobin unstable hemoglobin

General

blood protein heme protein multisubunit protein

Properties

COMPARTMENT: cytoplasm CELL: erythrocyte SUBUNITS: hemoglobin alpha chain :QUANTITY 2 hemoglobin beta chain :QUANTITY 2

References

  1. Alperts et al Molecular Biology of the Cell, Garland Publishing, New York, NY 1989 pg 289-291
  2. Wikipedia: Hemoglobin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoglobin