title: The detection of hemoglobin dimers by intrinsic fluorescence.
abstract: We have found that the intrinsic fluorescence emission maxima of oxy, met, and cyanmet hemoglobins have a concentration dependent shift to longer wavelengths. For oxy-hemoglobin, this effect is increased in the presence of 3M NaCl. At the protein concentrations studied, these liganded hemoglobins undergo dimerization. In contrast, horse-heart met myoglobin (which is a monomer), and deoxy Hb A and Hb Beth Israel (that have greatly decreased dissociation constants), exhibited a significantly smaller shift in fluorescence maxima. We conclude that hemoglobin dimers exhibit a bathochromic shift with respect to the tetramer. This shift is probably due to the increase in surface exposure of beta 37 Trp that occurs during hemoglobin dimerization.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006441:Hemoglobin A; D006454:Hemoglobins; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008433:Mathematics; D008706:Methemoglobin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D008786:Metmyoglobin; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins; C007169:cyanomethemoglobin; D008786:Metmyoglobin; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D008706:Methemoglobin; D006441:Hemoglobin A