Cited by 550Hemoglobin structure and functionCardiovascular and exercise physiologyBiomedical and Chemical Research

Myoglobin function reassessed

Wittenberg, Jonathan B., Wittenberg, Beatrice A.·2003·Journal of Experimental Biology

Abstract

The heart and those striated muscles that contract for long periods, having available almost limitless oxygen, operate in sustained steady states of low sarcoplasmic oxygen pressure that resist change in response to changing muscle work or oxygen supply. Most of the oxygen pressure drop from the erythrocyte to the mitochondrion occurs across the capillary wall. Within the sarcoplasm, myoglobin, a mobile carrier of oxygen, is developed in response to mitochondrial demand and augments the flow of oxygen to the mitochondria. Myoglobin-facilitated oxygen diffusion, perhaps by virtue of reduction of dimensionality of diffusion from three dimensions towards two dimensions in the narrow spaces available between mitochondria, is rapid relative to other parameters of cell respiration. Consequently, intracellular gradients of oxygen pressure are shallow, and sarcoplasmic oxygen pressure is nearly the same everywhere. Sarcoplasmic oxygen pressure, buffered near 0.33 kPa (2.5 torr; equivalent to approximately 4 micro mol l(-1) oxygen) by equilibrium with myoglobin, falls close to the operational K(m) of cytochrome oxidase for oxygen, and any small increment in sarcoplasmic oxygen pressure will be countered by increased oxygen utilization. The concentration of nitric oxide within the myocyte results from a balance of endogenous synthesis and removal by oxymyoglobin-catalyzed dioxygenation to the innocuous nitrate. Oxymyoglobin, by controlling sarcoplasmic nitric oxide concentration, helps assure the steady state in which inflow of oxygen into the myocyte equals the rate of oxygen consumption.

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Crossref · 10.1242/jeb.00243

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  • High concentrations of hemoglobin and myoglobin in red blood cells and cardiac/skeletal muscle determine that the reaction between their hemes and NO will be fast and might inhibit NO-signaling.

    “the high concentrations of hemoglobin and myoglobin in red blood cells (20 mM) and cardiac/skeletal muscle (300-900 μM) [31, 32], determines that the reaction between their hemes and NO will be fast and might inhibit NO-signaling.”
  • The role of myoglobin as an NO scavenger in skeletal muscle to prevent its toxicity had been proposed.

    “In fact, the role of myoglobin as an NO scavenger in skeletal muscle to prevent its toxicity had been proposed [35; 36].”

    From Skeletal muscle as an endogenous nitrate reservoir (2015) · cites this paper as [36]

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Authors
Wittenberg, J. B., & Wittenberg, B. A.
Affiliations
Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US)
Corresponding author
Wittenberg, Jonathan B.
Venue
Journal of Experimental Biology
Published
2003-06-15
Volume
206
Issue
12
Pages
2011-2020
ISSN
  • 0022-0949 (ISSN-L)
  • 1477-9145
OpenAlex
W2123971049
Cited by
550
References
100
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 35 · 2012: 21
FWCI
1.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of Experimental Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Hemoglobin structure and function
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Biomedical and Chemical Research
Keywords
myoglobin, oxygen diffusion, cytochrome c oxidase, nitric oxide, oxymyoglobin, nitrate, oxygen consumption, myocardium, skeletal muscle
MeSH terms
Animals, Electron Transport Complex IV, Diffusion, Heart, Myoglobin, Oxygen, Sarcolemma, Muscle, Skeletal

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