1.5 Transport of gases  (Page 5/19)

In addition to the partial pressure of carbon dioxide, the oxygen saturation of hemoglobin and the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood also influence the affinity of hemoglobin for carbon dioxide. The Haldane effect    is a phenomenon that arises from the relationship between the partial pressure of oxygen and the affinity of hemoglobin for carbon dioxide. Hemoglobin that is saturated with oxygen does not readily bind carbon dioxide. However, when oxygen is not bound to heme and the partial pressure of oxygen is low, hemoglobin readily binds to carbon dioxide.

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Oxygen is primarily transported through the blood by erythrocytes. These cells contain a metalloprotein called hemoglobin, which is composed of four subunits with a ring-like structure. Each subunit contains one atom of iron bound to a molecule of heme. Heme binds oxygen so that each hemoglobin molecule can bind up to four oxygen molecules. When all of the heme units in the blood are bound to oxygen, hemoglobin is considered to be saturated. Hemoglobin is partially saturated when only some heme units are bound to oxygen. An oxygen–hemoglobin saturation/dissociation curve is a common way to depict the relationship of how easily oxygen binds to or dissociates from hemoglobin as a function of the partial pressure of oxygen. As the partial pressure of oxygen increases, the more readily hemoglobin binds to oxygen. At the same time, once one molecule of oxygen is bound by hemoglobin, additional oxygen molecules more readily bind to hemoglobin. Other factors such as temperature, pH, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide, and the concentration of 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate can enhance or inhibit the binding of hemoglobin and oxygen as well. Fetal hemoglobin has a different structure than adult hemoglobin, which results in fetal hemoglobin having a greater affinity for oxygen than adult hemoglobin.

Carbon dioxide is transported in blood by three different mechanisms: as dissolved carbon dioxide, as bicarbonate, or as carbaminohemoglobin. A small portion of carbon dioxide remains. The largest amount of transported carbon dioxide is as bicarbonate, formed in erythrocytes. For this conversion, carbon dioxide is combined with water with the aid of an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase. This combination forms carbonic acid, which spontaneously dissociates into bicarbonate and hydrogen ions. As bicarbonate builds up in erythrocytes, it is moved across the membrane into the plasma in exchange for chloride ions by a mechanism called the chloride shift. At the pulmonary capillaries, bicarbonate re-enters erythrocytes in exchange for chloride ions, and the reaction with carbonic anhydrase is reversed, recreating carbon dioxide and water. Carbon dioxide then diffuses out of the erythrocyte and across the respiratory membrane into the air. An intermediate amount of carbon dioxide binds directly to hemoglobin to form carbaminohemoglobin. The partial pressures of carbon dioxide and oxygen, as well as the oxygen saturation of hemoglobin, influence how readily hemoglobin binds carbon dioxide. The less saturated hemoglobin is and the lower the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood is, the more readily hemoglobin binds to carbon dioxide. This is an example of the Haldane effect.

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