Hemoglobin (Pt1)

Exam 2

What is hemoglobin?

Characteristic of erythrocytes

prominent function: carrying oxygen and waste like CO2

Why are O2 and CO2 carried by erythrocytes?

Have limited solubilities in plasma

What is most oxygen carried by?

Hemoglobin (HbA), but some is in solution

What is the ratio to 1 RBC to Hb?

1 RBC = 250 millions Hb

What does hemoglobin consist of (structure)?

4 protein globin chains (2 alpha units, 2 beta units)

What does each globin chain contain?

Heme group

What does each Heme group contain and do?

Contains an Iron (Fe) core

Can bind to one oxygen molecule (O2) (each hemoglobin can attach to 4 O2 molecules because of the 4 heme groups)

How many oxygen molecules can hemoglobin bind to?

4 O2 molecules

What are the three forms of hemoglobin in erythrocytes?

oxyhemoglobin

deoxyhemoglobin

carbaminohemoglobin

What is oxyhemoglobin?

Hb bound to O2

What is deoxyhemoglobin?

Hb after O2 diffuses into tissues

What is carbaminohemoglobin?

Hb bound to CO2