Hemoglobin autooxidation/oxidation mechanisms and methemoglobin prevention or reduction processes in the bloodstream. Literature review and outline of autooxidation reaction.

The amount of circulating methemoglobin in healthy humans is the result of a balance between methemoglobin production (from autooxidation and oxidation) and hemoglobin reduction. Hemoglobin autooxidation and oxidation are very complex and are not well understood. This article analyses the literature on hemoglobin autooxidation, oxidation and reduction and sets out a sequence of reactions for the oxidation of hemoglobin and the ways in which the percentage of methemoglobin is regulated or methemoglobin production prevented. Most of the information concerns erythrocyte hemoglobin, but plasma extracellular hemoglobin (from hemolysis or hemoglobin-based blood substitutes) is also considered where possible.