Ear vein blood was collected from rabbits before and after intravenous injection with oxyhemoglobin amounting to 5 to 60 mg per kg of body weight. The renal threshold for Hb was estimated to be around 16 mg/dl of serum.
The level was elevated markedly after free Hb disappeared The peak of it appeared on the lst or the 2nd day after Hb injection.
Considerable amounts of hemoglobin (Hb) were injected into rabbits showing high levels of haptoglobin (Hp)(about 300 mg) which had been induced by injection with turpentine. No Hb-uria occurred in rabbits with no plasma free-Hb. Hb-uria appeared in rabbits with plasma free-Hb.
The plasma clearance rate of the Hp-Hb complex was calculated to be 18 mg/dl/hr and the T 1/27 hours.
Four hourly injections with 30 mg Hb/kg and two injections with 40 or 50 mg Hb/kg at five-hour intervals revealed that free Hb in serum and Hb excretion in urine increased as a function the number of injections.
When met-Hb, instead of oxy-Hb, was injected, changes of the Hp-Hb complex, free Fib, and the appearance of Hb-uria presented almost the same patterns as that of oxy-Hb.
Spectra of Hb in serum 10 minutes after injection with oxy- or met-Hb were examined. Only oxy-Hb was scanned when it was injected. There was a mixture of met-Hb and oxy-Hb when met-Hb was injected. The spectra of urine Hb showed a mixture of both oxy- and met-Hb after injection with either oxy- or met-Hb.
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