The Sites of Hemoglobin Catabolism

Abstract

Hemoglobin is cleared from plasma principally by the liver, moderately by the marrow, and relatively little by the spleen or other organs. Haptoglobin binding has no effect on this relative distribution, its only discernible role in hemoglobin clearance or catabolism being that of preventing the renal loss of hemoglobin. When bone marrow is depleted of parenchymal cells, as by cytotoxic chemicals or protein deprivation, its ability to take up hemoglobin from plasma is markedly enhanced.

Haptoglobin and birth weight in a Bengalee population

“…The close relationship between detectable H P types and birth weight among newborns in the present study might be due to their biological maturity reflected in birth weight (Millis, 1958;Penrose, 1960;Banerjee, 1969). Since the liver, specifically some parenchymal zones (Alper, 1965;Keen and Jandle, 1965;Giblett, 1969), is recognized as having a significant role in the synthesis of HP, maturity status of the liver vis-a-vis the newborn itself, in all probability, might be involved in the variable synthesis of detectable H P in cord blood.…”

Evaluation of a Stroma-Free Hemoglobin Solution for Use as a Plasma Expander

“…The amount of hemoglobin infused in our experiments was 1.4--3.3 g/k. which is far in excess of the amount employed by other investigators in experiments designed to study distribution, excretion, and metabolism of hemoglobin (45)(46)(47)(48). It is accepted by most workers in the field that, in the circulation, extracorpuscular hemoglobin combines with haptoglobin to form a molecule which is not filterable by the renal glomerulus and is cleared by the reticuloendothelial system.…”

“…In reviewing the literature, one finds that hemoglobin solutions have been used by many investigators for a variety of experiments, in addition to those designed to study hemoglobin as a plasma expander (1,2,26,27). Some have investigated the effect of hemoglobin on the kidney (2,4,24,25,(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34), the anfigenicity of hemoglobin (36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43), hemoglobin and iron metabolism (44)(45)(46)(47)(48), effect of hemolysate on blood coagulation (22), and role of intravascular hemolysis on production of a hypercoagulable state (10). Water was used to hemolyze erythrocytes in many of these studies (1,2,25,29,31,32,34,41,(44)(45)(46)(47)(48) while other methods included the use of ultrasonic vibrations (4, 10), mechanical trauma (33), and freezing then thawing (22).…”

The Renal Handling of Hemoglobin

“…After the red cells were washed 5 X with isotonic saline, hemoglobin was prepared as outlined above. 59Fe rat hemogiobin was prepared as outlined by Keene and Jandl (9). BME hemoglobin was prepared by the addition of a 4 ~ excess of an aqueous solution of bis (Nmaleimidomethyl) ether a to an aliquot of the labeled oxyhemogiobin (i.e., 1 mole BME/mole of hemoglobin heine).…”

“…3-5 hr after injection, the animals were sacrificed. In some instances, organs were removed and radioactivity was measured, as described in detail elsewhere (9,12). Liver and spleen radioactivity was corrected for the contribution from the activity of the plasma trapped in the organ at the time of sacrifice.…”