[The influence on oxgen-carrying capacity of procine hemoglobin while attached PEG to increase its total molecular...

Increasing the total molecular weight of hemoglobin through PEG modification has been proved to be a better choice in prolonging vascular retention time. As a long, linear, hydrophilic molecular, PEG exerts significant influence on the oxygen-carrying properties of porcine hemoglobin (pHb) when attached. PEG-hemoglobins exhibit a wide range of differences in their properties depending on which molecular weight PEG is selected, how many PEGs are bound and whether the allosteric cofactors exist or not. Furthermore, DBBF intracross-linked pHbs are bound to various active PEG. As a result, with the combination of the three methods: DBBF intracross-linking, allosteric cofactors involving and PEG conjugating, a tetramer stable and high oxygen-carrying capacity pHb derivitive with large molecular weight is obtained.