Myoglobin is the primary oxygen-carrying pigment of which type of body tissue in humans?
Myoglobin Myoglobin Myoglobin (symbol Mb or MB) is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and in almost all mammals. It is distantly related to hemoglobin which is the iron- and oxygen-binding protein in blood, specifically in the red blood cells. In humans, myoglobin is only found in the bloodstream after muscle injury. It is an abnormal finding, and can be diagnostically relevant when found in blood. Myoglobin is the primary oxygen-carrying pigment of muscle tissues. High concentrations of myoglobin in muscle cells allow organisms to hold their breath for a longer period of
Myoglobin mice genetically engineered to lack myoglobin can be viable and fertile but show many cellular and physiological adaptations to overcome the loss. Through observing these changes in myoglobin-deplete mice, it is hypothesised that myoglobin function relates to increased oxygen transport to muscle, oxygen storage and as a scavenger of reactive oxygen species. In humans myoglobin is encoded by the "MB" gene. Myoglobin can take the forms oxymyoglobin (MbO), carboxymyoglobin (MbCO), and metmyoglobin (met-Mb), analogously to hemoglobin taking the forms oxyhemoglobin (HbO), carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO), and methemoglobin (met-Hb). Like hemoglobin, myoglobin is a cytoplasmic protein that binds oxygen on a heme group.