Function of Hb in oxygen carriage

Question 1

Haemoglobin is an allosteric protein. What does this mean

Answer 1

The binding of O2 to one Hb subunit increases the affinity of the other subunits of O2

Question 2

What is the Hufner Constant ?

Answer 2

The amount of oxygen (in ml) carried by each gram of Haemoglobin. Theoretically suppose to be 1.39g/ml

Question 3

What factors affect P50 of the oxy-Haemoglobin dissociation curve? Four factors in all

Answer 3

Temperature
Hydrogen ion concentration
Co2 concentration
2-3 diphosphoglycarate concentration

Question 4

What is 2-3 diphosphoglycarate?

Answer 4

Highly anionic organic phosphate which promotes release of oxygen from Hb.
Produced by a side shunt reaction in glycolysis and is present in large quantities in the erythrocytes
Binds with beta globin chains of deoxyhaemoglobin - altering the protein conformation and reducing oxygen affinity.