On the action of ozone on whole bovine blood

摘要

The reaction between whole bovine blood and ozone has been studied. The ozonization reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by using the B-band and the Q-bands of hemoglobin contained in the red blood cells. Ozone causes the destruction of the hemin prosthetic groups present in the hemoglobin of the red cells and the toxicological and medical implications of this fact are briefly discussed. Although hemoglobin of the red cells appears to be the preferred target of ozone attack, there are other substrates in blood which are susceptible to ozonolysis reactions: fatty acids and cholesterol. The reaction between cholesterol and ozone was explored both polarimetrically and spectrophotometrically and it has been shown that this molecule also can be degraded by ozone in blood.