Carbon monoxide religation kinetics to hemoglobin S polymers following ligand photolysis

The re-equilibration rate of carbon monoxide binding to hemoglobin S polymers is determined by time-resolved measurements of linear dichroism spectra. Linear dichroism is used to detect religation to hemoglobin in the polymer in the presence of rebinding to free hemoglobin S tetramers. Measurement of the linear dichroism resulting from photolysis of the small percentage of ligand bound to the polymer is accomplished through the use of an ultrasensitive, ellipsometric linear dichroism technique developed for this purpose. The major finding is that the return of the polymer phase to its equilibrium ligation state is much slower than that of the solution phase hemoglobin tetramers. Assuming all hemes in the polymer are equally likely to participate in rebinding, the re-equilibration rate for carbon monoxide religation to hemoglobin S polymers is found to be 0.14 +/- 0.07 (s-1 mM-1), about 1000 times slower than the rebinding rate of carbon monoxide to T-state monomer hemoglobin. Several interpretations of this result are discussed. An understanding of the ligand binding kinetics to hemoglobin S polymers could have pathophysiological significance in its relevance to polymer formation and melting during red blood cell circulation.