New Function Of Hemoglobin To Aid In Cardiovascular Disease

Pretty big stuff to report. Researchers out of Wake Forest, National Institute of Health as well as other institutions have discovered a previously undetected chemical process within the oxygen carrying molecule hemoglobin that could have huge implications for cardiovascular disease. Just what does hemoglobin do anyway?

In the bloodstream, iron-rich hemoglobin consumes, on contact, any free nitric oxide released by the blood vessels, so the idea that hemoglobin participates in forming nitric oxide had seemed implausible until recently.

Basically…hemoglobin is the iron rich oxygen transport protein in the red blood cells. That is the easiest way I know to explain it but you could always Google if you feel the need, haha.

But seriously, this new implication for this mighty little molecule is big!

…describe how hemoglobin, through a catalytic reaction that does not change its own chemical properties, converts nitrite salt to the vasodilator nitric oxide. The paper further documents how the nitric oxide activity harnessed by hemoglobin escapes the red blood cell to regulate blood flow and how the process, surprisingly, relies on the oxidized, or rusted, form of hemoglobin, previously associated only with diseased states.

Since nitrite has been the subject of heavy research in the recent, this could further aid in such conditions as sickle cell, cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction and stroke. This really is an amazing find being that the specifics of hemoglobin’s intermediate molecule has eluded researchers for centuries.  Gosh, I love science!

via Science Daily