Is It Bad to Be Blue?

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Man is endowed with erythrocytes to contain the hemoglobin essential for the transportation of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. This vital task requires that the iron of the heme moiety be in the ferrous state to permit reversible binding of molecular oxygen. The intracellular environment of hemoglobin is such that some oxidation from the ferrous (hemoglobin) to the ferric (methemoglobin) state might be expected, although the extent to which this really occurs during the 120-day life of the human erythrocyte is still unknown. Metabolic processes are normally active in this relatively disadvantaged, anucleate cell to protect hemoglobin against . . .