Hemoglobin failure, or abnormal hemoglobin (such as that of sickle-cell disease). The ability of each hemoglobin molecule to carry oxygen is normally modified by altered blood pH or CO, causing an altered oxygen–hemoglobin dissociation curve. However, it can also be pathologically altered in, e.g., carbon monoxide poisoning. Decrease of hemoglobin, with or without an absolute decrease of red blood cells, leads to symptoms of anemia. Anemia has many different causes, although iron deficiency and its resultant iron deficiency anemia are the most common causes in the Western world. As absence of iron decreases heme synthesis, red blood cells in iron deficiency
Embryonic hemoglobin Embryonic hemoglobin The human embryonic haemoglobins were discovered in 1961. These were Hb-Gower 1, consisting of 2 zeta chains and 2 epsilon chains, and Hb-Gower 2, which consists of 2 αlpha-chains and 2 epsilon-chains, the zeta and epsilon chains being the embryonic haemoglobin chains. Embryonic hemoglobin is a tetramer produced in the blood islands in the embryonic yolk sac during the mesoblastic stage (first week of pregnancy until the end of the pregnancy). The protein is commonly referred to as Hemoglobin ε. Chromosomal abnormalities can lead to a delay in switching from embryonic hemoglobin. Hemoglobin Gower 1 (also referred to