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In these tissues, hemoglobin absorbs unneeded oxygen as an antioxidant, and regulates iron metabolism. [12] Excessive glucose in the blood can attach to hemoglobin and raise the level of hemoglobin A1c. [13] Hemoglobin and hemoglobin-like molecules are also found in many invertebrates, fungi, and plants. [14]
Binding of oxygen to a heme prosthetic group. Heme (American English), or haem (Commonwealth English, both pronounced /hi:m/ HEEM), is a ring-shaped iron-containing molecular component of hemoglobin, which is necessary to bind oxygen in the bloodstream. It is composed of four pyrrole rings with 2 vinyl and 2 propionic acid side chains. [1]
This amount of carbaminohemoglobin formed is inversely proportional to the amount of oxygen attached to hemoglobin. Thus, at lower oxygen saturation, more carbaminohemoglobin is formed. These dynamics explain the relative difference in hemoglobin's affinity for carbon dioxide depending on oxygen levels known as the Haldane effect. [2]
Hemoglobin A (HbA), also known as adult hemoglobin, hemoglobin A1 or α 2 β 2, is the most common human hemoglobin tetramer, accounting for over 97% of the total red blood cell hemoglobin. [1] Hemoglobin is an oxygen-binding protein, found in erythrocytes , which transports oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. [ 2 ]
In blood, the heme group of hemoglobin binds oxygen when it is present, changing hemoglobin's color from bluish red to bright red. [7] [8] Vertebrate animals use hemoglobin in their blood to transport oxygen from their lungs to their tissues, but other animals use hemocyanin (molluscs and some arthropods) or hemerythrin (spiders and lobsters).
The oxygen is held on the hemoglobin by four ferrous iron-containing heme groups per hemoglobin molecule. When all the heme groups carry one O 2 molecule each the blood is said to be "saturated" with oxygen, and no further increase in the partial pressure of oxygen will meaningfully increase the oxygen concentration of the blood.
In hemoglobin, the iron is in one of four heme groups and has six possible coordination sites; four are occupied by nitrogen atoms in a porphyrin ring, the fifth by an imidazole nitrogen in a histidine residue of one of the protein chains attached to the heme group, and the sixth is reserved for the oxygen molecule it can reversibly bind to. [5]
Vertebrates use a tetrameric hemoglobin, carried in red blood cells, to breathe. There are multiple types of hemoglobin that have been found in the human body alone. Hemoglobin A is the “normal” hemoglobin, the variant of hemoglobin that is most common after birth. Hemoglobin A2 is a minor component of hemoglobin found in red blood cells.