Topic 1 Molecules, Transport
and Health
Chapter 1B – Roles of the Blood
▷ Components of Blood
▷ Transport of Oxygen & Carbon Dioxide
▷ Blood Clotting
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Learning Objectives
▷ Understand the role of haemoglobin in the transport
of oxygen and carbon dioxide
▷ Understand the oxygen dissociation curve of
haemoglobin, the Bohr effect and the significance of
the oxygen affinity of fetal heamoglobin compared
with adult haemoglobin
▷ Understand the blood clotting process
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Blood as Transport Medium
▷ Blood is the transport medium of the cardiovascular
system
▷ Delivers nutrients to the cells
▷ Removes waste products of their metabolism
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Blood as Transport Medium
v Blood is the transport medium of the
cardiovascular system
v Delivers nutrients to the cells
v Removes waste products of their metabolism
(CO2 and Urea)
v Transports chemical messages (hormones)
v Helps maintain body temperature
v Acts as a buffer
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Blood as Transport Medium
▷ Substances can pass through the blood to the cells by:
○ Diffusion (passive)
○ Active Transport (requires energy)
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Blood Components
▷ Plasma A machine called a centrifuge
spins your blood to separate
▷ Buffy Coat
your red blood cells, platelets
○ Leukocytes (WBC)
and plasma
○ Platelets
▷ Erythrocytes (RBC)
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Blood Components - Plasma
▷ Over 50% of your blood volume is plasma
▷ 92% of plasma is made from water
○ Digested food products (glucose & amino acids)
○ Nutrient molecules
○ Excretory products (CO2 and urea)
○ Hormones (chemical messages)
○ Contains fibrinogen for blood clotting
▷ Yellow color: From a pigment called bilirubin which is
formed from heaemoglobin when old blood cells are
broken down by the liver 8
Blood Components - Plasma
▷ The plasma also helps with thermal regulation
○ Moves from warm areas to cold areas to help distribute heat
evenly
○ Provides the liquid component of sweat that helps regulate body
temperature through evaporation
○ Acts as a buffer to regulate pH
■ Contains dissolved ions
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Blood Components - Erythrocytes
▷ 1 mm3 of blood contains ~5 million erythrocytes
▷ Erythrocytes are red due to the red pigment called
heamoglobin
○ Heamoglobin carries oxygen
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Blood Components - Erythrocytes
▷ Erythrocytes are made in the bone marrow
▷ Mature erythrocytes do not contain a nucleus
▷ Life span of 120 days
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Blood Components - Erythrocytes
▷ They have a biconcave disk shape
which allows RBCs to have a large
surface area to volume ratio
○ This allows oxygen to diffuse easily
▷ No nucleus
○ More space for heamoglobin
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Blood Components - Leucocytes
White blood cells form the basis of the immune system and defend the
body against infection
▷ They compromise about 1% of the total
blood volume
▷ There 4 main type of leucocytes which
differ in both structure and function
▷ They are formed in the bone marrow
○ Lymphocytes are formed in the lymph
glands and spleen
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Blood Components - Leucocytes
▷ There are two main ways white blood cells defend
against disease:
1. Lymphocytes (Plasma B Cells) make antibodies which
destroy pathogens and antitoxins. Memory B cells
provide immunity by remembering pathogens and
producing antibodies once they invade again
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Blood Components - Leucocytes
▷ There are two main ways white blood cells defend against disease:
1. Phagocytes engulf pathogens and uses lysosomes to digest and break
down pathogens through a process known as phagocytosis
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Blood Components - Platelets
▷ Platelets are tiny fragments of large cells called megakaryocytes
▷ Platelets like RBCs and WBCs are also made in the bone marrow
▷ Platelets. main function is the blood clotting process
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Blood Components - Platelets
When a blood vessels breaks, the fibrinogen in the plasma together with
the platelets clots the blood. This seals the blood vessels preventing
blood loss and also entry of pathogens that can cause infection.
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Gas exchange
Gas exchange occurs by diffusion between the air in the alveoli and
the blood.
▷ The relative amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air
breathed in and our is measured in partial pressures
▷ Each substance exerts a partial pressure in that mixture
proportional to the amount that substance in the mixture
○ Atmospheric Pressure 100 kPa (kiloPascals)
○ if 12% O2 then O2 is 12 kPa
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Gas exchange
▷ Although the percentage of O2 is the
same in air (21%) the amount of O2
varies.
▷ At higher attitudes, atmospheric
pressure is lower, the air less dense,
therefore the amount of oxygen
available is less.
The partial pressure of a gas is a
better measure than its percentage
composition
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Transport of Oxygen
▷ Heamoglobin is a large globular, conjugated protein made from 4
polypeptide chains each with iron prosthetic group
▷ Therefore 4 molecules of O2 can be carried by a single
heamoglobin molecule
▷ The combination of
Heamoglobin and O2
forms oxyhaemoglobin
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Transport of Oxygen
▷ The first oxygen that binds to heamoglobin changes the
arrangement of the molecule
▷ This changes allow for the rest of the O2 molecule to bind at a
faster rate
▷ The process of dissociation (unbinding of O2) happens in reverse
where the last O2 molecule will be the hardest to remove
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Transport of Oxygen
1. Oxygen will move into the RBCs from the
lungs by diffusion since the concentration
of O2 in the blood is low
2. Oxygen is collected and bounded to
heamoglobin
3. This maintains a low concentration of free
O2 in the cyroplasm
4. Which in turn maintains a steep
concentration gradient between the air
and the RBCs
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Transport of oxygen
▷ The concentration of oxygen in the RBCs is higher than the
concentration in the cells
O2 is found in higher
partial pressure in
blood vessels and low
concentrations in the
cell.
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Transport of Oxygen
▷ The concentration of oxygen in the RBCs is higher than the
concentration in the cells
Due to the difference in
partial pressure, O2 will
diffuse inside the cell.
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Transport of Oxygen
▷ During rest or moderate exercise only 25% of O2 carried by the
heamoglobin will be released into the cells with the remaining
75% to be held on as a reserve
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Transport of Carbon Dioxide
▷ The concentration of CO2 in the RBCs is lower than the
concentration in the cells
CO2, a waste product of
cellular respiration, will
diffuse out of the cell
down a concentration
gradient since it builds
up inside the cell.
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Oxygen Dissociation Curve
As deoxygenated blood approaches the lungs
the steep part of the curve means that a small
increase in partial pressure causes a large
increase in % saturation
▷ The more oxygen there is in the
surroundings, the more
saturated heamoglobin will be.
This relations is shown in the As oxygenated blood
approaches the tissues,
oxygen dissociation curve: a small decrease in
partial pressure causes
a large decrease in %
1) Increases rapidly after the saturation
addition of the first oxygen due to
the change in arrangement of
heamoglobin
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Oxygen Dissociation Curve
As deoxygenated blood approaches the lungs
the steep part of the curve means that a small
increase in partial pressure causes a large
increase in % saturation
▷ The more oxygen there is in the
surroundings, the more
saturated heamoglobin will be.
This relations is shown in the As oxygenated blood
approaches the tissues,
oxygen dissociation curve: a small decrease in
partial pressure causes
a large decrease in %
2) After heaomgoblin becomes saturation
more saturated it gets harder for O2
molecules to bind and the curve
plateaus
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Oxygen Dissociation Curve
vHeamoglobin is
saturated with oxygen
vHigh affinity
vOxygen Loads
vHeamoglobin is less
saturated with oxygen
vLow affinity
vOxygen Unloads
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Oxygen Dissociation Curve
At low partial pressures of
oxygen as we increase oxygen
slightly, the % of Hb saturation
increases really quickly
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Oxygen Dissociation Curve
▷ The curve has an S (sigmoid) shape that shows
several features:
○ Alveoli in the lungs have a high O2 conc.(~14
kPa). Even if the alveolar oxygen conc. falls a
little, heamoglobin stays saturated because the
line is flat.
○ Resting tissues (brain, liver etc.) oxygen used by
respiration and PO2 . Is low ~4 kPa heamoglobin
is only 50% saturated
○ Tissues respiring quickly (contracting muscles),
the PO2 drops about 10% so almost 90% of the
oxygen is unloaded
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Oxygen Dissociation Curve
Shift to the left
▷ For the same pO2 more Hb is saturated
▷ O2 affinity has increased so Hb will hold
on to that O2 more
▷ O2 unloading decrease, so it will take
less pO2 for it to unload by Hb
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Oxygen Dissociation Curve
Shift to the right
▷ For the same pO2 less Hb is saturated
▷ O2 affinity has decreased so Hb will hold
on to that O2 less
▷ O2 unloading increase, so it will take
unload at higher pO2
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Different Hemoglobin
▷ Animals have different heamoglobin
with different transporting properties
based on the animal’s way of life.
▷ Lugworms have heamoglobin with a
higher affinity for oxygen since they live
in borrow with sea water and oxygen
concentrations fall very low
▷ The oxygen dissociation curve is
shifted up which allows the lugworm to
obtain oxygen even when PO2 is very
low
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Different Hemoglobin
▷ Animals have different
heamoglobin with different
transporting properties based on the
animal’s way of life.
▷ A human fetus make a different
type of heamoglobin that has a
higher affinity for O2 at lower
partial pressures
▷ Fetus obtain O2 from the placenta.
This different type of heamoglobin
allows oxygen to diffuse from the
mother’s blood to the fetus and to be
unloaded to the fetal tissues.
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Transport of Carbon
Dioxide - Cells
1. CO2 is produced as a waste product from
cells
2. CO2 diffuses through the cell and enters
the blood
3. CO2 will enter the red blood cells
4. CO2 will react with water to form carbonic
acid (H2CO3)
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Transport of Carbon
Dioxide - Cells
5. Carbonic acid (H2CO3) will dissociate to
bicarbonate (HCO3-) and hydrogen ions
(H+)
6. The dissociation process is catalyzed by
carbonic anhydrase
7. Bicarbonate ions diffuse out in the plasma
to be exchanged for chloride ions Cl-
8. Hydrogen ions binds to heamoglobin that
has relased oxygen
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Transport of Carbon
Dioxide - Alveoli
1. In the lungs high oxygen pressure
replaces the H+ ions from binding to
heaomoglobin
2. Bicarbonate (HCO3-) exchange with Cl-
ions and diffuse from the plasma to the
red blood cell
3. binds to hydrogen ions (H+) with the help
of carbonic anhydrase forming carbonic
acid
4. Carbonic acid reacts with water to form
CO2 that is released to alveolus 38
The Bohr Effect
▷ The Bohr effect is a physiological phenomenon that
describes how the oxygen-binding affinity of
hemoglobin (Hb) is influenced by changes in pH
(acidity) and the concentration of carbon dioxide
(CO2) in the blood
▷ This effect plays a crucial role in the delivery of
oxygen to tissues and is an essential part of the
body's oxygen transport system
▷ When tissues are actively metabolizing and
producing CO2, they become more acidic due to the
release of H+. This increase in acidity (decrease in
pH) in the tissues has a direct effect on hemoglobin.
Hemoglobin has a higher affinity for oxygen when
the pH is higher and a lower affinity for oxygen
when the pH is lower more acidic 39
The Bohr Effect
▷ Actively-respiring tissues produce
a lot of CO2 which dissolves in
tissue fluid to make carbonic acid
which lowers pH.
▷ Lower pH reduces the %saturation
of haemoglobin at any PO2 as O2
needs to be released easily.
▷ We can see this in the graph
where the oxygen dissociation
curve shifts to the right
Lower pH causes heamoglobin to
change shape and affinity of O2 is
reduced
This allows O2 to be released more
easily to actively respiring tissues 40
The Bohr Effect
At 2 kPa:
▷ Saturation with High CO2
is around 5% with 95% of
O2 unloaded
▷ Saturation at low CO2 is at
~10% so 90% of O2 is 10%
unloaded 5%
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Blood Clotting
▷ The cardiovascular system is composed of vessels (arteries, veins,
capillaries) that carry the blood.
▷ When a blood gets damaged there is a chance that internal or
external bleeding can occur.
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Blood Clotting
▷ Endothelial cells in the vessel wall divide
too slowly to stop the bleeding effectively.
Continuous bleeding can be very
dangerous due to the loss of blood
▷ To overcome this, blood contains small
fragments called platelets that cause the
blood to clot around a damage vessel.
▷ Platelets are cell fragments from
megakaryocytes that cause the blood to
clot around a damaged vessel.
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Blood Clotting
1) Damage to a blood vessel exposes the lumen of
the vessel to collagen in its wall. Damage to the
wall causes the vasocontraction to the vessel to
slow down blood flow.
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Blood Clotting
2) When platelets come into contact with collagen
they change from discs to spheres with long thin
projections (platelets are now activated).
3) This enables blood platelets to stick to collagen,
each other and other blood cells in vessel
4) They also release two chemicals
○ Serotonin that help prevent bleeding by causing
vasocontraction.
○ Thromboplastin
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Blood Clotting
5) Thromboplastin triggers the clotting cascade.
6) Thromboplastin triggers an enzyme to catalyze the conversion of the
protein prothrombin (found in the plasma) into an enzyme called
thrombin. This requires the presence of Ca+ ions in the blood.
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Blood Clotting
8) The enzyme thrombin catalyzes the conversion of soluble fibrinogen into
insoluble fibrin.
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Blood Clotting
8) Fibrin since it is insoluble is escaping the
blood and forms a mesh around the clot).
9) The fibrin mesh traps more platelets and
RBCs forming a blood clot.
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Blood Clotting
11) Eventually the endothelial cells will have sufficient time to seal the break
by making a new lining of endothelial cell.
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