Gas Transport

Prof. K. Sivapalan
 Transport of gases in Blood

2013 Gas Transport 2

Reaction of Oxygen with Haemoglobin
• Iron atoms in Hb bind reversibly with O2-
Oxygination.
• 4Hb + 4O2 ↔ Hb4O8
• Oxygen dissociation curve illustrates the relation of
PO2 to saturation.
• The sigmoid curve is the result of changing affinity
of Hb to oxygen.
• When fully saturated, 1 g Hb carries 1.34 ml oxygen

2013 Gas Transport 3

 Factors Affecting the Affinity of
Haemoglobin to Oxygen
• Factors that reduce the affinity [shift the curve
to right, increase P50]
– Rise in temperature
– Fall in pH
– Rise in 2,3-biphosphoglycerate
• P50- partial pressure at which 50 %
haemoglogin is saturated.

2013 Gas Transport 4

 Reaction with CO
• Carbon monoxide reacts with haemoglobin in
the same way as oxygen but the affinity is 250
times more.

2013 Gas Transport 5

 2,3- Biphosphoglycerate
• It binds to β chain of deoxy haemoglobin
• Alkalinity, thyroid hormone, androgens and
growth hormone increase it.
• Exercise causes increase in 60 minutes but it
may not occur in trained athlets.

2013 Gas Transport 6

 Color Changes of Haemoglobin
• Haemoglobin is blue
• Oxyhaemoglobin is pink
• Cyanisis- blue discolorization dueto
deoxigination.
• It becomes apperant if deoxy haemoglobin is
more than 5g/dl
• Carboxy haemoglobin is cherry red

2013 Gas Transport 7

 Transport of Carbon Dioxide
• Considerable amount of CO2 remains
dissolved in plasma.
• CO2 enters red cells and carbonic anhydrase
catalyses formation of Hydrogen and
bicarbonate.
• CO2 reacts with NH2 in proteins [haemoglobin
and plasma proteins] to form carbamino
compound.
2013 Gas Transport 8
 Bicarbonate Formation and Chloride Shift
• The dissociation of carbonic acid formed in red cells as H+
and HCO3- will not proceed unless at least one is removed.
• The Hb is a good buffer and takes up H+ and the reaction
continues.
• The resulted HCO3- concentration rises and difuses into
plasma.
• The electrical in-equilibrium drags Cl- into red cell.
• This increases osmolality and the red cell volume increases.
• 70 % of the CO2 is transported as HCO3-

2013 Gas Transport 9

 Summary of CO2 in DL blood
Added in Venous blood
Arterial Blood tissues/ [PCO2- 46 mm
[PCO2- 40 mm
Hg] removed in Hg]
lungs

Dissolved 2.6 mL 0.4 mL 3.0 mL

Carbimino 2.6 mL 0.8 mL 3.4 mL

compound

Bicarbonate 43.8 mL 2.5 mL 46.3 mL

Total 49.0 mL 3.7 mL 52.7 mL

pH 7.4 7.36
2013 Gas Transport 10
Carbon Dioxide Dissociation Curve

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 Interaction of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide
with Haemoglobin
• Increase of CO2 promotes dissociation of O2-
Bohr Effect.
• Oxygination tends to displace CO2 from
blood- Haldane effect.
• Oxy haemoglobin is more acidic
– Less tendancy to form carbamino compounds.
– Less tendancy to accept hydrogen ion.

2013 Gas Transport 12

 Summary of Changes in Lungs
• Oxygen up take- 250 ml/min.
• Carbon dioxide output- 200 ml/min.
• Respiratory exchange ratio-
– CO2/O2 = 200/250 =0.8
• Oxygen uptake is facilitated by carbon dioxide
dissociation and carbon dioxide dissociation is
facilitated by oxygenation.

2013 Gas Transport 13

 Physiologic Shunt of Venous Blood

• Drainage of small amounts of bronchial blood

into pulmonary vein
• Left ventricular blood draining into the
chamber directly.
• The result is blood in aorta with 95 %
saturation of oxygen.

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 Exchange in Tissues
• The cells are using oxygen and the partial pressure
is very low.
• The cells are producing carbon dioxide and the
partial pressure is high.
• The gases diffuse according to the Partial pressure
difference through the tissue fluid.
• Higher temperature, higher PCO2, more acidity
facilitate de-oxigenation and deoxigenation
facilitates CO2 reaction with haemoglobin
2013 Gas Transport 15
 Supply of Oxygen
• When tissue metabolism increases, the tissue
partial pressure falls.
• Slight fall in partial pressure results in
dissociation of more oxygen from
haemoglobin.
• Myoglobin in muscles releases oxygen when
the partial pressure is very low.

2013 Gas Transport 16