Abstract
The metal-porphyrin complexes are widespread in nature as constituents of compounds of fundamental importance in the metabolic processes of life. The photosynthetic pigment of plants, chlorophyll, is a magnesium porphyrin. The iron-porphyrin complexes are found as prosthetic groups of proteins, including the hemoglobins, myoglobins, and the heme enzymes such as the cytochromes, catalase, and peroxidase. The porphyrins also exist in nature in their free or uncombined state or as zinc complexes, and it is this group that is associated with the porphyrias and the porphyrinurias. The principal method now employed for the detection of porphyrins in biological materials in the clinical laboratory is based on the characteristic red fluorescence observed when addic solutions of the porphyrins are exposed to ultraviolet light. In summary, the synthesis of porphyrins, heme, and globin can only occur in those respiring cells with full complements of mitochondrial and cytosolic enzymes.
Published Version
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