What is it? Haemoglobin is like an oxygen delivery guy, present in red blood cells.
How does it work? Think of haemoglobin as a car with 4 seats. Each seat (haem group) can have an oxygen passenger.
The drama of binding 🎭
Cooperative Binding! When one oxygen takes a seat, it makes the other seats more comfy for additional oxygen passengers. However, if one oxygen leaves, it makes the other seats less appealing!
R state vs T state: These are haemoglobin's moods:
R state - Party mode! 🎉 All 4 seats are taken.
T state - Lonely mode 🙁. No oxygen on any seat.
The oxygen saturation plot twist 📈
Oxygen saturation = How many seats in our haemoglobin car are taken.
More oxygen in the air (higher partial pressure) = More passengers (oxygen) hopping into the car.
At 10kPa (kinda like a traffic signal), the car is full, with a 100% seating capacity reached!
Example: When blood flows near the lungs (which is like an oxygen party zone with 10-13kPa), the car fills up quickly. Then, as it travels to low-oxygen areas (like a quiet town with less than 10kPa), some oxygen passengers leave the car to visit the organ's tissues.
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What is it? Haemoglobin is like an oxygen delivery guy, present in red blood cells.
How does it work? Think of haemoglobin as a car with 4 seats. Each seat (haem group) can have an oxygen passenger.
The drama of binding 🎭
Cooperative Binding! When one oxygen takes a seat, it makes the other seats more comfy for additional oxygen passengers. However, if one oxygen leaves, it makes the other seats less appealing!
R state vs T state: These are haemoglobin's moods:
R state - Party mode! 🎉 All 4 seats are taken.
T state - Lonely mode 🙁. No oxygen on any seat.
The oxygen saturation plot twist 📈
Oxygen saturation = How many seats in our haemoglobin car are taken.
More oxygen in the air (higher partial pressure) = More passengers (oxygen) hopping into the car.
At 10kPa (kinda like a traffic signal), the car is full, with a 100% seating capacity reached!
Example: When blood flows near the lungs (which is like an oxygen party zone with 10-13kPa), the car fills up quickly. Then, as it travels to low-oxygen areas (like a quiet town with less than 10kPa), some oxygen passengers leave the car to visit the organ's tissues.
Unlock the Full Content!
Dive deeper and gain exclusive access to premium files of Biology HL. Subscribe now and get closer to that 45 🌟