STUDIES ON THE FETAL HEMOGLOBIN OF RABBITS

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Abstract
Neonatal rab-bit blood exhibits a higher O2 affinity than the maternal one, and the difference gradually disappears with age. There is little alteration in the fetal and maternal blood after 20 hours'' dialysis against de-ionized water and no significant difference in the magnitude of heme-heme interaction between both kinds of hemoglobin irrespective of their environments. Minor but distinct differences are found between the fetal and adult oxyhemoglobins in the alkali denaturation behavior and the UV absorption spectrum. The dissimilarities disappear with postnatal growth. Starch-gel electrophoresis of both the adult and fetal carboxy-hemoglobins showed single homogeneous zone of the same mobility. p-Chloromercuribenzoate titer/mole of the fetal oxy-hemoglobin is estimated as 2.2 and it increases gradually with postnatal development reaching approximately 3. Fetal and adult rabbit hemoglobin differ in physiological function as well as molecular structure. Contrary to human fetal and adult hemoglobins, the structural differences are probably responsible for the distinction in the physiological function.