Hemoglobin is a tetrameric iron containing protein which is the primary transporter of oxygen from the lungs to all cells throughout the body. It resides primarily in red blood cells. There are several different forms of hemoglobin ( types A, A2, F, S, C, E, H and Barts, each with its own affinity for oxygen and other heme ligands). Upon release of bound oxygen, hemoglobin binds carbon dioxide and transports it back to the lungs where it is released, and more oxygen is bound. There are several disease states directly associated with hemoglobin, including sickle cell disease (point mutation giving hemoglobin a tendency to aggregate in the absence of oxygen), thalassemia (not enough hemoglobin), polycythemia (too much hemoglobin) and anemia, which can be due to thalassemia or other factors such as nutrition, chronic disease or underlying genetic causes. AkrivisBio’s Hemoglobin Assay is a very simple method of determining hemoglobin level in various bodily fluids or other biological extracts by absorbance at 575 nm with a lower limit of quantitation below 0.02 g/dl. The assay is based upon the method of Zander, et al, which eliminates the use of cyanide in the assay. The advantages of this method are a very stable end product, a more rapid reaction time, decreased errors in quantification due to sample differences (turbidity) and use of a standard (pure hemin).
