Open AccessThe kinetics of hœmoglobin IV- General methods and theoretical basis for the reactions with carbon monoxide
Author(s) -
F. J. W. Roughton
Publication year - 1934
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, containing papers of a biological character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9185
pISSN - 0950-1193
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1934.0052
Subject(s) - carbon monoxide , chemistry , kinetics , oxygen , hemoglobin , reaction rate constant , carbon monoxide poisoning , organic chemistry , catalysis , poison control , physics , medicine , quantum mechanics , environmental health
Some years ago, Hartridge and Roughton published four papers (1923-1927) upon the kinetics of the rapid reactions between oxygen and hæmoglobin. Following on this work an investigation has been made of the corresponding reactions between carbon monoxide and hæmoglobin, and also of the reactions in which carbon monoxide and oxygen both compete for union with hæmoglobin. According to the classical paper of Douglas, Haldane and Haldane (1912) the hæmoglobin-carbon monoxide reactions should only differ from the hæmoglobin-oxygen reactions in the numerical value of the mass action constants. It was therefore expected that the kinetic study of these sister reactions would contribute towards a fuller understanding of these sister reactions would contribute towards a fuller understanding of the reactions between oxygen and hæmoglobin. Furthermore, a knowledge of rates of the carbon monoxide reactions is of service, not only in working out the factors involved in the passage of O2 into the red blood corpuscle (Roughton, 1932), but also in interpreting the measurements of the carbon monoxide as a "physiological reagent,"e. g. , determination of blood volume and distribution, indirect measurement of O2 pressure in arterial blood, cool gas poisoning, etc. Lastly, the similarity between the kinetics of the reactions ofO 2 and CO with hæmoglobin and the kinetics of numerous enzyme processes, as set forth especially by J. B. S. Haldane in his recent book (1930), makes this problem well worth working out from the viewpoint of enzyme chemistry.