Short-lived intermediates in hemoglobin/O2 systems

Abstract

The kinetics of the reaction of hemoglobin with molecular oxygen, in which rapid mixing is followed by a very fast temperature jump, is numerically simulated. Values for rate constants are used to the extent known, otherwise interpolated or extrapolated. It is shown that reaction steps not resolvable by rapid mixing can be resolved by subsequent chemical relaxation at appropriate points in time. Four different mechanisms are considered, all assuming no distinction between the two kinds of chains of hemoglobin. Bimolecular rate constants for oxygen binding are either the same for all four sites, or are governed by "frequency factors" (the kinetic equivalent of statistical factors for equilibrium constants in allosteric models). Furthermore, either the third or the fourth measured (Adair) dissociation constant is composed of the product of a "local" dissociation constant and an allosteric interconversion constant. These two pairs of choices give rise to four different mechanisms. Can these mechanisms be distinguished experimentally? As the final parameter values are so similar for the first two binding steps, discrimination is essentially impossible at low oxygen concentration levels (less than 100 microM with 50 microM hemoglobin). Discrimination becomes possible at higher oxygen concentrations, but high resolution in time and concentration amplitude are required. Much depends upon the differences in molar extinction coefficients of components over the accessible wave length range. Some of these values are as yet unknown or not known to a sufficient precision. Nevertheless, distinction between mechanistic alternatives is possible in principle.