Studies of Hemoglobinemia and Hemoglobinuria Produced in Man by Intravenous Injection of Hemoglobin Solutions.

Hemoglobinuria is a striking feature of several hemolytic disorders, such as blackwater fever, the various paroxysmal hemoglobinurias, and certain types of acute hemolytic anemia. Available information indicates that hemoglobinuria in these conditions results from intravascular hemolysis with liberation of hemoglobin into the plasma. Quantitative studies of the plasma and urine hemoglobin and of pigments derived from hemoglobin have been made recently in this laboratory on several patients with hemoglobinuria. It was thought that comparison of the findings in normal individuals in whom hemoglobinemia and hemoglobinuria were induced by intravenous injections of hemoglobin solutions, together with the findings in clinical cases showing hemoglobinuria, might clarify certain aspects of these clinical problems. Sellards and Minot (1), Duesberg (2), and Ottenberg and Fox (3) have demonstrated that small amounts of stroma-free solutions of human hemoglobin may be injected in man without serious toxic reactions. The findings of these authors will be discussed below.