Selective Binding of Met-Hemoglobin to Erythrocytic Membrane: A Possible Involvement in Red Blood Cell Aging

It is well known that in vivo and under normal physiological conditions intraerythrocytic hemoglobin may exist in three different forms represented by oxygenated, deoxygenated and partially oxidized hemoglobin (1–4). Apart from the first two derivatives whose relative proportions are continuously changing during the oxygenation deoxygenation cycle, met-hemoglobin is normally present at a steady-state level of about 1%.