Hydroxocobalamin is a natural form, or vitamer, of vitamin B12, a basic member of the cobalamin family of compounds. Hydroxocobalamin is the form of vitamin B12 produced by many bacteria which are used to produce the vitamin commercially. Like other forms of vitamin B12, hydroxocobalamin has an intense red color. It is not a form normally found in the human body, but is easily converted in the body to usable coenzyme forms of vitamin B12. Pharmaceutically, hydroxocobalamin is usually produced as a sterile injectable solution and is used for treatment of the vitamin deficiency, and also (because of its affinity for cyanide ion) as a treatment for cyanide poisoning. It has been experimentally tested as a scavenger of nitric oxide. "Vitamin B12" refers to a group of compounds called cobalamins that are available in the human body in a variety of mostly interconvertible forms.
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