Hemoglobin Flashcards
What’s necessary for making RBCs?
Ferrous sulfate (iron)
Folic acid
B12
First rate synthesis of heme requires B6
Define erythropoeisis
RBC production originating from a pluripotent stem cell. The nucleus is absent.
Hematocrit level
The proportion (%) of total blood volume composed of red blood cells
Serum vs plasma?
Coagulation factor
Buffy coat?
White blood cells
Low hematocrit or the paleness of an RBC is an indication of what?
Anemia.
What kind of protein structure is Hemoglobin?
Quaternary
There are four globin chains in hemoglobin. What are they?
Two alpha and two beta in adult hemoglobin!
Fetal hemoglobin will have a gamma subunit
What are Transferrin’s?
are iron-binding blood plasma glycoproteins that control the level of free iron in biological fluids
Hemoglobin is a tetramer. What does that mean?
That every subunit has a heme group for an affinity to oxygen.
What is a Haptoglobin?
a protein present in blood serum that binds to and removes free hemoglobin from the bloodstream.
What is Hemopexin?
a plasma protein that binds heme with the highest affinity of any known protein. Hemopexin is generally expressed in liver, and belongs to acute phase reactants, the synthesis of which is induced after inflammation.
A globin chain consists of eight?…
Alpha helices. For strength and stability.
E7- distal histidine (end where oxygen enters)
F8-proximal histidine (control of oxygen binding to heme) chelates the iron at four points that are planar to iron and the fifth one pulls the iron out of the plane significantly displacing iron. The sixth is from oxygen to move the iron back into the plane
Hydrophobic pocket
There are two types of globin chains each with subunits. What are they?
Alpha gene: alpha and Zeta
Beta genes: beta, gamma, epsilon, and delta
