Surprise Discovery in Blood: Hemoglobin Has Bigger Role (original) (raw)
U.S.|Surprise Discovery in Blood: Hemoglobin Has Bigger Role
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/21/us/surprise-discovery-in-blood-hemoglobin-has-bigger-role.html
Advertisement
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
- March 21, 1996
See the article in its original context from
March 21, 1996
,
Section A, Page
TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers.
About the Archive
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.
With almost the surprise that might greet discovery of a new bone in the human body, scientists have detected a major new task performed by hemoglobin, the blood's red pigment and transporter of gases.
Besides ferrying oxygen from lungs to tissues and carting back carbon dioxide on the return journey, hemoglobin has now been found to distribute a third gas on its rounds, according to research published today in the journal Nature.
The gas is nitric oxide, and hemoglobin seems to be able to make the blood vessels expand or contract by regulating the amount of nitric oxide to which they are exposed. The finding is likely to have significant implications for the treatment of blood pressure and the development of artificial blood.
The atom of iron cradled by each subunit of hemoglobin is known to have a strong affinity for nitric oxide after it has released its oxygen, behavior hitherto regarded as something of a curiosity. The new discovery is that another part of the hemoglobin, a segment of its protein chain known as a cysteine residue, can also hold and release nitric oxide, giving the blood pigment the ability to regulate local levels of nitric oxide in the circulatory system according to need.
Nitric oxide -- long known as a noxious gas in the atmosphere -- is turning out to be as important as oxygen in keeping cells and tissues alive, said Dr. Jonathan Stamler of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N. C., and senior author of the new report. The invisible, odorless gas was first discovered to have a physiological role in the body in 1987. It is now known to be a messenger that acts on many different cells, changing their shape and function. And it plays a ubiquitous role in human health, Dr. Stamler said, including the maintenance of learning and memory, blood pressure and sexual erections.
The finding that hemoglobin carries nitric oxide to all parts of the body will come as a complete surprise to most scientists and physicians, Dr. Stamler said in a telephone interview.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement