Hemoglobin, diffusion

The automated method differs from the ICSH method chiefly in that oxidation and ligation of heme iron occur after the hemes have been released from globin. Therefore, ferricyanide and cyanide need not diffuse into the hemoglobin and methemoglobin, respectively. Because diffusion is rate-limiting in this reaction sequence, the overall reaction time is reduced from approximately three minutes for the manual method to 3 —15 seconds for the automated method. Reaction sequences in the Coulter S + II and the Technicon H 1 and H 2 are similar. Moreover, similar reactions are used in the other Coulter systems and in the TOA and Unipath instmments. 

Ethylene is slightly more potent as an anesthetic than nitrous oxide, and the smell of ethylene causes choking. Diffusion through the alveolar membrane is sufficiendy rapid for equilibrium to be estabUshed between the alveolar and the pulmonary capillary blood with a single exposure. Ethylene is held both ia cells and ia plasma ia simple physical solution. The Hpoid stroma of the red blood cells absorb ethylene, but it does not combine with hemoglobin. The concentration ia the blood is 1.4 mg/mL when ethylene is used by itself for anesthesia. However, ia the 1990s it is not used as an anesthetic agent. 

This patient has the subjective symptoms of weight loss, decreased appetite, shortness of breath, and cough. Abnormal laboratory values include elevated temperature, decreased hemoglobin and hematocrit, and decreased CD4 count. Chest x-ray shows diffuse interstitial infiltrates bilaterally. Physical exam reveals thrush. The assessment is possible AIDS with CD4 count of 150 cells/mm3, thrush, a respiratory illness (possibly Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia), and anemia of chronic disease. He also has a history of hepatitis B, hypertension, and GERD (on famotidine), poor adherence to his anti hypertensive medications, and likely has an irregular daily regimen due to his occupation as a truck driver. 

This entire reaction is reversed when the blood reaches the lungs. Because carbon dioxide is eliminated by ventilation, the reaction is pulled to the left. Bicarbonate ions diffuse back into the red blood cells. The hemoglobin releases the hydrogen ions and is now available to load up with oxygen. The bicarbonate ions combine with the hydrogen ions to form carbonic acid, which then dissociates into carbon dioxide and water. The carbon dioxide diffuses down its concentration gradient from the blood into the alveoli and is exhaled. A summary of the three mechanisms by which carbon dioxide is transported in the blood is illustrated in Figure 17.8. 

Kofinas et al. (1996) have prepared PEO hydrogels by a similar technique. In this work, they studied the diffusional behavior of two macromolecules, cytochrome C and hemoglobin, in these gels. They noted an interesting, yet previously unreported dependence between the crosslink density and protein diffusion coefficient and the initial molecular weight of the linear PEGs. 

Based on the magnitude of diffusion constants for globular (i.e., spherical) protein molecules, one can estimate that proteins like hemoglobin (mass = 68 kDa diffusivity = 6.2 m /s X 10 ) can readily diffuse 20-30 micrometers within 10-20 seconds. By contrast, low-molecular-weight metabolites, such as glycine (mass = 75 diffusivity = 95 m /s X 10 ) and arginine (mass = 174 diffusivity = 58 m /s X 10 ), will rapidly traverse these distances in a few seconds or less. 

MICROSCOPIC DIFFUSION CONTROL MACROSCOPIC DIFFUSION CONTROL MICROSCOPIC REVERSIBILITY CHEMICAL REACTION DETAILED BALANCING, RRINCIRLE OF CHEMICAL KINETICS MICROTUBULE ASSEMBLY KINETICS BIOCHEMICAL SELF-ASSEMBLY ACTIN ASSEMBLY KINETICS HEMOGLOBINS POLYMERIZATION... 

In blood-containing vascular beds, the inactivation of nitric oxide by oxygen is of minor importance because of the rapid and irreversible reactions of nitric oxide with oxyhemoglobin in red blood cells. Any nitric oxide that diffuses into the vascular lumen will be quickly destroyed, making blood vessels effective sinks for nitric oxide. The half-life of nitric oxide is sufficiently long that nitric oxide diffusing into the vascular smooth muscle could also diffuse back out to the lumin to be inactivated by hemoglobin in red blood cells. 

Human hemoglobin, for example, has a sedimentation coefficient of 4.48 S and a diffusion coefficient of 6.9 10 m2 s l in aqueous solution at 20°C. The density of this material is 1.34 g cm -3. Substituting these values into Equation (34) shows the particle mass to be... 

EXAMPLE 2.4 Solvation and Ellipticity of Human Hemoglobin from Sedimentation Data. The diffusion coefficient of the human hemoglobin molecule at 20°C is 6.9 10 11 m2 s "1. Use this value to determine f for this molecule. Evaluate f0 for hemoglobin using the particle mass calculated in Equation (35). Indicate the possible states of solvation and ellipticity that are compatible with the experimental flfQ ratio. 

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