Influences of Carbon Monoxide on the Binding of Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, Proton and 2,3-Diphosphoglycerate to Human Hemoglobin

Abstract

Pioneering work on the effect of CO on O₂ equilibrium with hemoglobin (Hb) was performed by Douglas and Haldane (1912). Haldane (1912) also presented a theoretical procedure for the calculation of the position of the O₂ dissociation curve at a given amount of carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO). Although their studies were followed later by many investigators (Roughton and Darling, 1944; Okada et al., 1976; Yamaguchi et al., 1981), the analyses were mainly focussed on the competitive replacement reaction between O₂ and CO through Hb. On the other hand, several authors (Hlastala et al., 1976; Okada et al., 1976; Zwart et al., 1984) aimed to assess the effect of CO on aliosteric interactions induced by ligands including hydrogen ion, i.e. the fixed acid Bohr effect as well as the molecular CO₂, i.e. the carbamino effect. Unfortunately however, their results were not in full agreement especially as regards the saturation dependence of the fixed acid Bohr factor. Furthermore, little work has been done to estimate a quantitative influence of CO on the effect provided by 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (DPG) within the red blood cells.