Microcirculation and NO-CO studies of a natural extracellular hemoglobin developed for an oxygen therapeutic carrier

Extracellular soluble hemoglobins (Hbs) have long been studied for their possible use as safe and effective alternatives to blood transfusion. While remarkable progress has been made in the use of cell-free Hb as artificial oxygen carrier, significant problems remain, including susceptibility to oxidative inactivation and propensity to induce vasoconstriction. Hemarina-M101 is a natural giant extracellular hemoglobin (3600 kDa) derived from marine invertebrate (polychaete annelid). Hemarina-M101 is a biopolymer composed of 156 globins and 44 non-globin linker chains and formulated in a product called HEMOXYCarrier®. Prior work has shown Hemarina-M101 to possess unique anti-oxidant activity and a high oxygen affinity. Topload experiment with this product into rats did not revealed any effect on heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP). A pilot study with the hamster dorsal skinfold window chamber model showed absence of microvascular vasoconstriction and no significant impact on mean arterial blood pressure. In vitro nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) reaction kinetics measurements show that Hemarina-M101 has different binding rates as compared to human Hb. These results revealed for the first time that the presence of this marine hemoglobin appears to have no vasoactivity at the microvascular level in comparison to others hemoglobin based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) developed so far and merits further investigation.