Proceedings of the Royal Society, London 13, 355-364 (1864)
XVIII. "On the Reduction and Oxidation of the Colouring Matter of the Blood."
By G. G. STOKES, M.A., Sec. R.S.,
Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge. Received June 16, 1864.
1. Some time ago my attention was called to a paper
by
Professor
Hoppe(1),
in which he has pointed out the remarkable spectrum produced by the
absorption
of light by a very dilute solution or blood, and applied the
observation
to elucidate the chemical nature of the colouring matter. I had no
sooner
looked at the spectrum, than the extreme sharpness and beauty of the
absorption-bands
of blood excited a lively interest in my mind, and I proceeded to try
the
effect of various reagents. The observation is perfectly simple, since
nothing more is required than to place the solution to be tried, which
may be contained in a test-tube, behind a slit, and view it through a
prism
applied to the eye. In this way it is easy to verify Hoppe's
statement,
that the colouring matter (as may be presumed at least from the
retention
of its peculiar spectrum) is unaffected by alkaline carbonates and
caustic
ammonia, but is almost immediately decomposed by acids, and also, but
more
slowly, by caustic fixed alkalies, the coloured product of
decomposition
being the hæmatin of Lecanu, which is easily identified by its
peculiar
spectra. But it seemed to me to be a point of special interest to
inquire
whether we could imitate the change of colour of arterial into that of
venous blood, on the supposition that it arises from reduction.
2. In my experiments I generally employed the blood
of
sheep or oxen obtained from a butcher; but Hoppe has shown that the
blood
of animals in general exhibits just the same bands. To obtain the
colouring
matter in true solution, and at the same time to get rid of a part of
the
associated matters, I generally allowed the blood to coagulate, cut the
clot small, rinsed it well, and extracted it with water. This, however,
is not essential, and blood merely diluted with a large quantity of
water
may be used; but in what follows it is to be understood that the watery
extract is used unless the contrary be stated.
3. Since the colouring matter is changed by acids, we must employ reducing agents which are compatible with an alkaline solution. If to a solution of protosulphate of iron enough tartaric acid be added to prevent precipitation by alkalies, and a small quantity of the solution, previously rendered alkaline by either ammonia or carbonate of soda, be added to a solution of blood, the colour is almost instantly changed to a much more purple red as seen in small thicknesses, and a much darker red than before as seen in greater thickness. The change of colour, which recalls the difference between arterial and venous blood, is striking enough, but the change in the absorption spectrum is far more decisive. The two highly characteristic dark hands seen before are now replaced by a single band, somewhat broader and less sharply defined at its edges than either of the former, and occupying nearly the position of the bright band separating the dark bands of the original solution. The fluid is more transparent for the blue, and less so for the green than it was before. If the thickness be increased till the whole of the spectrum more refrangible than the red be on the point of disappearing, the last part to remain is green, a little beyond the fixed line b, in the case of the original solution, and blue, some way beyond F, in the ease of the modified fluid. Figs. 1 and 2 in the accompanying woodcut represent the bands seen in these two solutions respectively.
4. If the purple solution be exposed to the air in a
shallow
vessel, it quickly returns to its original condition, showing the two
characteristic
bands the same as before; and this change takes place immediately,
provided
a small quantity only of the reducing agent were employed, when the
solution
is shaken up with air. If an additional quantity of the reagent he now
added, the same effect is produced as at first, and the solution may
thus
be made to go through its changes any number of times.
5. The change produced by the action of the air
(that
is, of course, by the absorption of oxygen) may be seen in an
instructive
form on partly filling a test-tube with a solution of blood suitably
diluted,
mixing with a little of the reducing agent, and leaving the tube at
rest
for some time in a vertical position. The upper or oxidized portion of
the solution is readily distinguished by its colour; and if the tube be
now placed behind a slit and viewed through a prism, a dark band is
seen,
having the general form of a tuning-fork, like figs-1 and 2, regarded
now
as a single figure, the line of separation being supposed removed.
6. Of course it is necessary to assure oneself that
the
single band in the green is not due to absorption produced merely by
the
reagent, as is readily done by direct observation of its spectrum, not
to mention that in the region of the previous dark bands, or at least
the
outer portions of it, the solution is actually more transparent than
before,
which could not be occasioned by an additional absorption.
Indeed
the absorption due to the reagent itself in its different stages of
oxidation,
unless it be employed in most unnecessary excess, may almost be
regarded
as evanescent in comparison with the absorption due to the colouring
matter;
though if the solution be repeatedly put through its changes, the
accumulation
of the persalt of iron will presently tell on the colour, making it
sensibly
yellower than at first for small thicknesses of the solution.
7. That the change which the iron salt produces in
the
spectrum is due to a simple reduction of the colouring matter, and not
to the formation of some compound of the colouring matter with the
reagent,
is shown by the fact that a variety of reducing agents of very
different
nature produce just the same effect. If protochloride of tin be
substituted
for protosulphate of iron in the experiment above described, the same
changes
take place as with the iron salt. The tin solution has the advantage of
being colourless, and leaving the visible spectrum quite unaffected,
both
before and after oxidation, and accordingly of not interfering in the
slightest
degree with the optical examination of the solutions, but permitting
them
to be seen with exactly their true tints. The action of this reagent,
however,
takes some little time at ordinary temperatures, though it is very
rapid
if previously the solution be gently warmed. Hydrosulphate of ammonia
again
produces the same change, though a small fraction of the colouring
matter
is liable to undergo some different modification, as is shown by the
occurrence
of a slender band in the red, variable in its amount of development,
which
did not previously exist. In this case, as with the tin salt, the
action
is somewhat slow, requiring a few minutes unless it be assisted lay
gentle
heat. Other reagents might be mentioned, but these will suffice.
8. We may infer from the facts above mentioned that the colouring, matter of blood, like indigo, is capable of existing in two states of oxidation, distinguishable by a difference of colour and a fundamental difference in the action on the spectrum. It may be made to pass from the more to the less oxidized state by the action of suitable reducing agents, and recovers its oxygen by absorption from the air.
As the term hæmatin has been
appropriated
to a product of decomposition, some other name must be given to the
original
colouring matter. As it has not been named by Hoppe, I propose to call
it cruorine, as suggested to me by Dr. Sharpey; and in its two
states
of oxidation it may conveniently be named scarlet cruorine and
purple
cruorine respectively, though the former is slightly purplish at a
certain small thickness, and the latter is of a very red purple colour,
becoming red at a moderate increase of thickness.
9. When the watery extract from blood-clots is left
aside
in a corked bottle, or even in a tall narrow vessel open at the top, it
presently changes in colour from a bright to a dark red, decidedly
purple
in small thicknesses. This change is perceived even before the solution
has begins to stink in the least perceptible degree. The tint agrees
with
that of the purple cruorine obtained immediately by reducing agents;
and
if a little of the solution be sucked up from the bottom into a
quill-tube
drawn to a capillary point, and the tube be then placed behind a slit,
so as to admit of analyzing the transmitted light without exposing the
fluid to the air, the spectrum will be found to agree with that of
purple
cruorine. On shaking the solution with air it immediately becomes
bright
red, and now presents the optical characters of scarlet cruorine. It
thus
appears that scarlet cruorine is capable of being reduced by certain
substances,
derived from the blood, present in the solution, which must themselves
be oxidized at its expense.
10. When the alkaline tartaric solution of protoxide
of
tin is added in moderate quantity to a solution of scarlet curorine,
the
latter is presently reduced. If the solution is now shaken with air,
the
cruorine is almost instantly oxidized, as is shown by the colour of the
solution and its spectrum by transmitted light. On standing for little
time, a couple of minutes or so, the cruorine is again reduced, and the
solution may be made to go through these changes a great number of
times,
though not of course indefinitely, as the tin must at last become
completely
oxidized. It thus appears that purple cruorine absorbs free
oxygen
with much greater avidity than the tin solution, notwithstanding that
the
oxidized cruorine is itself reduced by the tin salt. I shall return to
this experiment presently.
11. When a little acid, suppose acetic or tartaric acid, which does not produce a precipitate, is added to a solution of blood, the colour is quickly changed from red to brownish red, and in place of the original bands (fig. 1) we have a different system, nearly that of fig. 3. This system is highly characteristic; but in order to bring it out a larger quantity of substance is requisite than in the case of scarlet cruorine. The figure does not exactly correspond to any one thickness, for the bands in the blue are best seen while the band in the red is still rather narrow and ill-defined at its edges, while the narrow inconspicuous hand in the yellow hardly comes out till the whole of the blue and violet, and a good part of the green, are absorbed. The difference in the spectra figs. 1 and 3 does not alone prove that the colouring matter is decomposed by the acid (though the fact that the change is not instantaneous favours that supposition), for the one solution is alkaline, though it may be only slightly so, while the other is acid, and the difference of spectra might be due merely to this circumstance. As the direct addition of either ammonia or carbonate of soda to the acid liquid causes a precipitate, it is requisite in the first instance to separate the colouring matter from the substance so precipitated.
This may be easily effected on a small scale by
adding
to the watery extract from blood-clots about an equal volume of ether,
and then some glacial acetic acid, and gently mixing, but not violently
shaking for fear of forming an emulsion. When enough acetic acid has
been
added, the acid ether rises charged with nearly the whole of the
colouring
matter, while the substance which caused the precipitate remains in the
acid watery layer below(2).
The acid ether solution shows in perfection the characteristic spectrum
fig. 3. When most of the acid is washed out the substance falls,
remaining
in the ether near the common surface. If after removing the wash-water
a solution, even a weak one, of ammonia or carbonate of soda be added,
the colouring matter readily dissolves in the alkali. The spectrum of
the
transmitted light is quite different from that of scarlet cruorine, and
by no means so remarkable. It presents a single band of absorption,
very
obscurely divided into two, the centre of which nearly coincides with
the
fixed line D, so that the band is decidedly less refrangible than the
pair
of bands of scarlet cruorine. The relative proportion of the two parts
of the band is liable to vary. The presence of alcohol perhaps even of
dissolved ether, seems to favour the first part, and an excess of
caustic
alkali the second, the fluid at the same time becoming more decidedly
dichroitic.
The blue end of the spectrum is at the same time absorbed. The band of
absorption is by no means so definite at its edges as those of scarlet
cruorine, and a far larger quantity of the substance is required to
develope
it. This difference of spectra shows that the colouring matter
(hæmatin)
obtained by acids is a product of the decomposition, or metamorphosis
of
some kind, of the original colouring matter. When hæmatin is
dissolved
in alcohol containing acid, the spectrum nearly agrees with that
represented
in fig. 3.
12. Hæmatin is capable of reduction and oxidation like cruorine. If it be dissolved in a solution of ammonia or of carbonate of soda, and a little of the iron salt already mentioned, or else of hydrosulphate of ammonia, be added, a pair of very intense bands of absorption is immediately developed (fig. 4). These bands are situated at about the same distance apart as those of scarlet cruorine, and are no less sharp and distinctive. They are a little more refrangible, a clear though narrow interval intervening between the first of them and the line D. They differ much from the bands of cruorine in the relative strength of the first and second band. With cruorine the second band appears almost as soon as the first, on increasing the strength or thickness of the solution from zero onwards, and when both bands are well developed, the second band is decidedly broader than the first. With reduced hæmatin, on the other hand, the first band is already black and intense by the time the second begins to appear; then both bands increase, the first retaining its superiority until the two are on the point of merging into one by the absorption of the intervening bright band, when the two appear about equal.
Like cruorine, reduced
hæmatin
is oxidized by shaking up its solution with air. I have not yet
obtained
hæmatin in an acid solution in more than one form, that which
gives
the spectrum fig. 3, and which I have little doubt contains
hæmatin
in its oxidized form; for when it is withdrawn from acid ether by an
alkali,
I have not seen any traces of reduced hæmatin, even on taking
some
precautions against the absorption of oxygen. As the alkaline solution
of ordinary hæmatin passes, with increase of thickness, through
yellow,
green, and brown to red, while that of reduced hæmatin is red
throughout,
the two kinds may be conveniently distinguished as brown
hæmatin
and
red hæmatin respectively, the former or oxidized
substance
being the hæmatin of chemists.
13. Although the spectrum of scarlet cruorine is not affected by the addition to the solution of either ammonia or carbonate of soda, yet if after such addition the solution be either heated or alcohol be added, although there is no precipitation decomposition takes place. The coloured product of decomposition is brown hæmatin, as may be inferred from its spectrum. Since, however, the spectrum of an alkaline solution of brown hæmatin is only moderately distinctive, and is somewhat variable according to the nature of the solvent, it is well to add hydrosulphate of ammonia, which immediately developes the remarkable bands of red hæmatin. This is the easiest way to obtain them; but the less refrangible edge of the first band as obtained in this way is liable to be not quite clean, in consequence of the presence of a small quantity of cruorine which escaped decomposition. Some very curious reactions are produced in a solution of cruorine by gallic acid combined with other reagents, but these require further study.
14. Hoppe proposed to employ the highly characteristic absorption-bands of scarlet cruorine in forensic inquiries. Since, however, cruorine is very easily decomposed, as by hot water, alcohol, weak acids, etc., the method would often be inapplicable. But as in such cases the coloured product of decomposition is hæmatin, which is a very stable substance, the absorption-bands of red hæmatin in alkaline solution, which in sharpness, distinctive character and sensibility rival those of scarlet cruorine itself, may be employed instead of the latter. The absorption-bands of brown hæmatin dissolved in a mixture of ether and acetic acid, or in acetic acid alone, are hardly less characteristic, but are not quite so sensitive, requiring a somewhat larger quantity of the substance.
15. I have purposely abstained from physiological speculations until I should have finished tine chemico-optical part of the subject; but as the facts which have been adduced seem calculated to throw considerable light on the function of cruorine in the animal economy, I may perhaps be permitted to make a few remarks on this subject.
It has been a disputed point whether the oxygen introduced into the blood in its passage through the lungs is simply dissolved or is chemically combined with some constituent of the blood. The latter and more natural view seems for a time to have given place to the former in consequence of the experiments of Magnus. But Liebig and others have since adduced arguments to show that the oxygen absorbed is, mainly at least, chemically combined, be it only in such a loose way, like a portion of the carbonic acid in bicarbonate of soda, that it is capable of being expelled by indifferent gases. It is known, too, that it is the red corpuscles in which the faculty of absorbing oxygen mainly resides.
Now it has been shown in this paper that we have in cruorine a substance capable of undergoing reduction and oxidation, more especially oxidation, so that if we may assume the presence of purple cruorine in venous blood, we have all that is necessary to account for the absorption and chemical combination of the inspired oxygen.
16. It is stated by Hoppe that venous as well as arterial blood shows the two bands which are characteristic of what has been called in this paper scarlet cruorine. As the precautions taken to prevent the absorption of oxygen are not mentioned, it seemed desirable to repeat the experiment, which Dr. Harley and Dr. Sharpey have kindly done. A pipette adapted to a syringe was filled with water which had been boiled and cooled without exposure to the air, and the point having been introduced into the jugular vein of a live dog, a little blood was drawn into the bulb. Without the water the blood would have been too dark for spectral analysis. The colour did not much differ from that of scarlet cruorine; certainly it was much nearer the scarlet than the purple substance. The spectrum showed the bands of scarlet cruorine.
This, however, does not
by
any means prove the absence of purple cruorine, but only shows that the
colouring matter present was chiefly scarlet cruorine. Indeed the
relative
proportions of the two present in a mixture of them with one another
and
with colourless substances, can be better judged of by the tint than by
the use of the prism. With the prism the extreme sharpness of the bands
of scarlet cruorine is apt to mislead, and to induce the
observer
greatly to exaggerate the relative proportion of that substance. Seeing
then that the change of colour from arterial to venous blood as far
as it goes is in the direction of the change from scarlet
to
purple cruorine, that scarlet cruorine is capable of reduction even in
the cold by substances present in the blood (§ 9), and that the
action
of reducing agents upon it is greatly assisted by warmth (§ 7), we
have every reason to believe that a portion of the cruorine
present
in venous blood exists inn the state of purple cruorine, and is
reoxidized
in passing through the lungs.
17. That it is only a rather small proportion of the cruorine present in venous blood which exists in the state of purple cruorine under normal conditions of life and health, may be inferred, not only from the colour, but directly from the results of the most recent experiments(3). Were it otherwise, any extensive hæmorrhage could hardly fail to be fatal, if; as there is reason to believe, cruorine be the substance on which the function of respiration mainly depends; nor could chlorotic persons exhale as much carbonic acid as healthy subjects, as is found to be the case.
But after death there is every reason to think that the process of reduction still goes on, especially in the case of warm-blooded animals, while the body is still warm. Hence the blood found in the veins of an animal some time after death can hardly be taken as a fair specimen as to colour of the venous blood in the living animal. Moreover the blood of an animal which has been subjected to abnormal conditions before death is of course liable to be altered thereby. The terms in which Lehmann has described the colour of the blood of frogs which had been slowly asphyxiated by being made to breathe a mixture of air and carbonic acid seem unmistakeably to point to purple cruorine(4).
18. The effect of various indifferent reagents in changing the colour of defibrinated blood has been much studied, but not always with due regard to optical principles. The brightening of the colour, as seen by reflexion, produced by the first action of neutral salts, and the darkening caused by the addition of a little water, are, I conceive, easily explained; but I have not seen stated what I feel satisfied is the true explanation. In the former case the corpuscles lose water by exosmose, and become thereby more highly refractive, in consequence of which a more copious reflexion takes place at the common surface of the corpuscles and the surrounding fluid. In the latter case they gain water by endosmose, which makes their refractive power more nearly equal to that of the fluid in which they are contained, and the reflexion is consequently diminished. There is nothing in these cases to indicate any change in the mode in which light is absorbed by the colouring matter, although a change of tint to a certain extent, and not merely a change of intensity, may accompany the change of conditions under which the turbid mixture is seen, as I have elsewhere more fully explained(5).
No doubt the form of the corpuscles is changed by the action of the reagents introduced; but to attribute the change of colour to this is, I apprehend, to mistake a concomitant for a cause, and to attribute, moreover, the change of colour to a cause inadequate to produce it.
19. Very different is the effect of carbonic acid. In this case the existence of a fundamental change in the mode of absorption cannot be questioned, especially when the fluid is squeezed thin between two glasses and viewed by transmitted light. I took two portions of defibrinated blood; to one I added a little of the reducing iron solution, and passed carbonic acid into the other, and then compared them. They were as nearly as possible alike. We must not attribute these apparently identical changes to two totally different causes if one will suffice. Now in the case of the iron salt, the change of colour is plainly due to a deoxidation of the cruorine. On the other hand, Magnus removed as much as 10 or 12 per cent. by volume of oxygen from arterialized blood by shaking the blood with carbonic acid. If, as we have reason to believe, this oxygen was for the most part chemically combined, it follows that carbonic acid acts as if it were a reducing agent. We are led to regard the change of colour not as a direct effect of the presence of carbonic acid, but a consequence of the removal of oxygen. There is this difference between carbonic acid and the real reducing agents, that the former no longer acts on a dilute and comparatively pure solution of scarlet cruorine, while the latter act just as before.
If even in the case of blood exposed to an
atmosphere
of carbonic acid we are not to attribute the change of colour to the
direct
presence of the gas, much less should we attempt to account for the
darker
colour of venous than arterial blood by the small additional percentage
of carbonic acid which the former contains. The ascertained properties
of cruorine furnish us with a ready explanation, namely that it is due
to a partial reduction of scarlet cruorine in supplying the wants of
the
system.
20. I am indebted to Dr. Akin for calling my
attention
to a very interesting pamphlet by A. Schmidt on the existence of ozone
in the blood(6). The author uses
throughout
the language of the ozone theory. If by ozone be meant the substance be
it allotropic oxygen or teroxide of hydrogen, which is formed by
electric
discharges in air there is absolutely nothing to prove its existence in
blood for all attempts to obtain an oxidizing gas from blood failed.
But
if by ozone be merely meant oxygen in any such state, of combination or
otherwise, as to be capable of producing certain oxidizing effects,
such
as turning guaiacum blue the experiments of Schmidt have completely
established
its existence, and have connected it, too, with the colouring matter.
Now
in cruorine we have a substance admitting of easy oxidation and
reduction;
and connecting this with Schmidt's results, we may infer that scarlet
cruorine
is not merely a greedy absorber and a carrier of oxygen, but also an
oxidizing
agent,
and that it is by its means that the substances which enter the
blood
from the food, setting aside those which are either assimilated or
excreted
by the kidneys, are reduced to the ultimate forms of carbonic acid and
water, as if they had been burnt in oxygen.
21. In illustration of the functions of cruorine, I would refer, in conclusion, to the experiment mentioned in § 10. As the purple cruorine in the solution was oxidized almost instantaneously on being presented with free oxygen by shaking with air, while the tin-salt remained in an unoxidized state, so the purple cruorine of the veins is oxidized during the time, brief though it may be, during which it is exposed to air in the lungs, while the substances derived from the food may have little disposition to combine with free oxygen. As the scarlet cruorine is gradually reduced, oxidizing thereby a portion of the tin-salt, so part of the scarlet cruorine is gradually reduced in the course of the circulation, oxidizing a portion of the substances derived from the food or of the tissues. The purplish colour now assumed my the solution illustrates the tinge of venous blood, and a fresh shake represents a fresh passage through the lungs.
1. Virchow's Archiv, vol. xxiii. P 416 (1862).
2. If I may judge from the results obtained with the precipitate given by acetic acid and a neutral salt, a promising mode of separation of the proximate constituents of blood crystals would be to dissolve the crystals in glacial acetic acid and add ether, which precipitates a white albuminous substance, leaving the hæmatin in solution.
3. Funk' Lehrbuch der Physiologie, 1863, vol. I. § 108.
4. Physiological Chemistry, vol. ii. p. 178.
5. Philosophical Transactions, 1852, p. 527.
6. Ueber Ozon im Blut. Dorpat, 1862.