Red blood cell oxygen has been released the resulting deoxyhemoglobin is of a dark red burgundy color. However, blood can appear bluish when seen through the vessel wall and skin. Pulse oximetry takes advantage of the hemoglobin color change to directly measure the arterial blood oxygen saturation using colorimetric techniques. Hemoglobin also has a very high affinity for carbon monoxide, forming carboxyhemoglobin which is a very bright red in color. Flushed, confused patients with a saturation reading of 100% on pulse oximetry are sometimes found to be suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Having oxygen-carrying proteins inside specialized cells (as opposed to oxygen carriers
Glycated hemoglobin the degree of control of glucose metabolism in diabetic patients was proposed in 1976 by Anthony Cerami, Ronald Koenig and coworkers. Glycated hemoglobin causes an increase of highly reactive free radicals inside blood cells. Radicals alter blood cell membrane properties. This leads to blood cell aggregation and increased blood viscosity which results in impaired blood flow. Another way glycated Hb causes damage is via inflammation which results in atherosclerotic plaque (atheroma) formation. Free radical build-up promotes the excitation of Fe-Hb through into abnormal ferryl Hb (Fe-Hb). Fe is unstable and reacts with specific amino acids in Hb to regain its