The Effect of Erythrocyte Lysis in Selected Animals on the Absorption Spectra of Oxyhemoglobin

Abstract—The absorption spectra of lysed and non-lysed erythrocyte samples isolated from chicken, goose, and guinea pig blood were studied. It was found that the position of the maxima of Soret bands for lysed erythrocyte samples from the chicken and goose blood shifted into the short-wave region of the spectrum compared to the original samples. No band shift was observed for the guinea pig erythrocytes. When interpreting the short-wavelength shift of the Soret band, the following factors that may lead to this effect were considered: a physical factor (variation in the angle of the spectral slope of absorption background, the presence of a nucleus in the erythrocyte and a change in relative permittivity) and a chemical factor (the possibility of methemoglobin and hemichrome formation). It has been shown that the contribution of these factors to the short-wavelength shift is small and therefore it is possible to ignore these factors when interpreting the Soret band shift. To explain the observed effect, we have developed a hypothesis according to which a short-wavelength shift occurs due to the formation of free molecules of oxyhemoglobin in the dissociation of the oxyhemoglobin–inner erythrocyte membrane surface complex. Using this hypothesis, differences in the positions of Soret band maxima for different animals are explained consistently.