hæmoglobin, hemo- Chem.
(hiːməʊˈgləʊbɪn)
[Shortened from hæmato-globulin.]
The colouring matter of the red corpuscles of the blood, which serves to convey oxygen to the tissues in the circulation; it is a protein which is resolvable into hæm and globin; when oxidized (oxyhæmoglobin) it has a bright scarlet colour, and is crystallizable. Formerly called cruorin, hæmatoglobulin, hæmoglobulin, hæmatoglobin. Also attrib. and Comb.
| 1869 Syd. Soc. Biennial Retrospect 3 The specific gravity of hæmoglobin may by calculation be approximately estimated as 1 . 2 to 1 . 3. 1869–72 Watts Dict. Chem. VI. 352 Hæmoglobin, Hæmatoglobin, this substance is the only colouring matter of the blood of vertebrate animals. Ibid. 353 Hæmoglobin is the only ferruginous constituent of the blood-corpuscles. 1872 Huxley Phys. iii. 65 Called hæmoglobin from its readily breaking up into globulin and hæmatin. 1876 tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 310 Hæmoglobin..or Hæmatoglobulin..consists of an albumen and a colouring matter hæmatin. 1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., Hæmoglobin..is a colloid, but when combined with oxygen, as oxyhæmoglobin, crystallises according to the rhombic system in plates, or prisms, or tetrahedra..they are bluish red by transmitted light, scarlet by reflected light. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 510/1 Hæmoglobin Tablets. 1950 Sci. News XV. 96 But these lake-dwelling Daphnia, if deprived of abundant oxygen in the laboratory, also become pink with newly-formed hæmoglobin in their blood. Thus they have the capacity of hæmoglobin synthesis when stimulated by lack of oxygen, although they do not profit by this gift in nature. Ibid. 103 Hæmoglobin is unusual among proteins in having a coloured part of its molecule, a coloured part with characteristic absorption bands in its spectrum which can be measured. 1956 Nature 17 Mar. 524/1 There was a drop in the hæmoglobin-level from 81 to 70 per cent when tested by the Sahli method. 1956 New Biol. XXI. 55 Sickle-cell haemoglobin is the best known of the abnormal haemoglobins in man, but several other types can be distinguished by electrophoretic and solubility tests. These are known as haemoglobin types C, D, E, G, H, I, J, K, and M. 1957 Ibid. XXIV. 61 The mean of the twenty values on the scale gives the ‘haemoglobin index’ of the population. 1963 R. P. Dales Annelids iv. 81 Haemoglobin-containing corpuscles are distributed in the coelomic fluid. 1964 G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. v. 115 In the red blood cell it is the only structure observed between the haemoglobin-laden cytoplasm and the blood plasma. 1968 H. Harris Nucleus & Cytoplasm vi. 118 The failure of high concentrations of actinomycin D to inhibit decisive events in the differentiation of colonial myxamoebae, of pancreatic cells in the mouse embryo, and of haemoglobin-forming cells in the chick embryo. 1968 Times 17 May (heading) Structure of haemoglobin solved. |
Hence ‖ ˌhæmoglobiˈnæmia (-ˈniːmɪə) Path. [f. prec. and Gr. αἷµα blood, after anæmia, etc.], the presence of free hæmoglobin in the fluid part of the blood. ˌhæmoglobiˈniferous a. [see -ferous], containing hæmoglobin. ˌhæmoglobiˈnometer [see -meter], an instrument for measuring the quantity of hæmoglobin in blood; whence ˌhæmoglobiˈnometry, the measurement of this. ˌhæmoglobiˈnopathy, any condition in which the quality of the hæmoglobin in the blood is defective.‖ ˌhæmoglobiˈnuria (-ˈjʊərɪə) Path. [Gr. οὖρον urine], the presence of free hæmoglobin in the urine; whence ˌhæmoglobiˈnuric a., characterized by hæmoglobinuria.
| 1885 W. Roberts Urin. & Renal Dis. iv. (ed. 4) 162 note, The so-called ‘Hæmoglobinæmia’ which precedes the change in the urine. 1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., Hæmoglobinhæmia, the condition in which hæmoglobin is diffused into the liquor sanguinis, as occurs in some cases of hæmophilia. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 329/2 The blood fluid is often provided with hæmoglobiniferous disks. 1885 Stirling tr. Landois' Hum. Physiol. I. 26 The hæmoglobinometer of Gowers is used for the clinical estimation of hæmoglobin. 1887 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 9 July 80 Hæmoglobinometry. 1961 B.S.I. News Dec. 27 (heading) Sealed glass cells for photometric hæmoglobinometry. 1957 A. W. Woodruff et al. in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 May 1235/1 (heading) Terminology of the hereditary haemoglobinopathies with haemoglobin variants. Ibid. 1235/2 The term haemoglobinopathy should be used to denote a condition in which the production of normal adult haemoglobin..is partly or wholly suppressed and it is partly or wholly replaced by one or more haemoglobin variants. 1962 Lancet 12 May 1006/2 As the hæmoglobinopathies grow in importance, a monograph taking stock of what we know of thalassæmia is welcome. 1966 Ibid. 31 Dec. 1435/1 The situation with respect to diabetes reminds one of attempts to analyse the hæmoglobinopathies before chemical techniques were available for the identification of hæmoglobins to discriminate between possible genotypes. 1866 A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 923 A pathological condition of the blood stands in an immediate causative relation to the haemoglobinuria in this affection. 1893 A. Davidson Hygiene & Dis. Warm Clim. 181 Bilious hæmoglobinuric fever is met with in Madagascar, Mauritius..and some parts of Italy. |