A Modification of the Spectrophotometric Method for Determining Oxyhemoglobin Affinity

The role of hemoglobin as a carrier of oxygen in the blood was established in 1859 by Hoppe-Seyler. Bert, using whole blood, furnished experimental data whereby an oxyhemoglobin affinity curve could be plotted. In 1886, C. Bohr published data on purified hemoglobin for the second curve of oxyhemoglobin affinity. By 1903, Bohr had established that the oxyhemoglobin affinity curve was S-shaped for both whole blood and hemoglobin in solution. Since that time, various methods have been reported, or modifications thereof, to estimate oxyhemoglobin affinity