Abstract
SEVERAL lines of evidence point to the existence of a rapidly synthesised haem fraction which is unrelated to any of the known haemoproteins. Much of this evidence has come from studies of the early-labelled fraction of bilirubin which, unlike most bilirubin produced in normal conditions, is derived from sources other than haemoglobin in senescent red cells1,2. As measured with 14C-glycine, the early bilirubin fraction consists of both a rapid and a slow component3,4. In rats in normal conditions, the slow component seems to be derived chiefly from haemoproteins with different rates of turnover5,6. The metabolic source of the initial sharp component remains more enigmatic. The rapidity of its formation, only 1–2 h after 14C-glycine administration3, does not conform to the turnover rate of any known haemoprotein. Here we describe a rapid peak of haem labelling, just preceding the initial bilirubin component, in both liver and young erythroid cells, suggesting that rapidly synthesised haem may be of importance in all the major sites of haem production.
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YANNONI, C., ROBINSON, S. Early-labelled haem in erythroid and hepatic cells. Nature 258, 330–331 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/258330a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/258330a0
