How does hemoglobin function in respiration?

Answer 1

Hemoglobin is involved in transport of oxygen (as well as a small amount of CO2). Hemoglobin contains an iron molecule at the center; it is the site of oxygen binding. When we obtain oxygen through respiration, it binds to hemoglobin in the blood and is then transported throughout the body.

Answer 2

Haemoglobin is the molecule in red blood cells which carries Oxygen molecules around the body.

It carries 98-99% of oxygen in the blood and is the main transporter of oxygen.

When haemoglobin is bound to oxygen it is called oxyhaemoglobin, and when oxygen is removed, it is called deoxygenated haemoglobin.

Haemoglobin, travelling in blood, from the lungs to the left side of the heart, is then carried around the body in the arteries to the capillaries, where the oxygen is released and made available for the body tissues to use in cellular respiration. As the haemoglobin moves out of the tissues, its oxygen saturation is significantly reduced. It then returns to the right side of the heart, where it is pumped to the lungs to replenish its oxygen supplies.

Answer 3

Red blood cells (RBCs) carry oxygen through the association of hemoglobin and 4 oxygen.

Carbon dioxide is carried in 4 ways:

1. as a bicarbonate ion inside the RBC

2. bound to the hemoglobin as carbanohemoglobin

3. bicarbonate ion in plasma

4. dissolved in plasma as a gas

Answer 4

haemoglobin speeds up the diffusion of oxygen into the blood vessel and further to the cells.