What component of blood primarily carries oxygen to tissues?

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Multiple Choice

What component of blood primarily carries oxygen to tissues?

Oxygen is primarily carried by hemoglobin inside red blood cells. Hemoglobin has four heme groups with iron that bind one oxygen each, so a single molecule can transport up to four O2 molecules from the lungs to tissues. Most of the oxygen in blood is bound to hemoglobin as oxyhemoglobin; only a small amount is dissolved directly in plasma. In tissues, oxygen is released when conditions lower hemoglobin’s affinity for O2—colder or warmer? Warmer, and with higher carbon dioxide and lower pH (the Bohr effect), plus 2,3-BPG in red cells, which promotes release. Plasma proteins, white blood cells, and platelets don’t play the primary role in carrying oxygen.

Oxygen is primarily carried by hemoglobin inside red blood cells. Hemoglobin has four heme groups with iron that bind one oxygen each, so a single molecule can transport up to four O2 molecules from the lungs to tissues. Most of the oxygen in blood is bound to hemoglobin as oxyhemoglobin; only a small amount is dissolved directly in plasma. In tissues, oxygen is released when conditions lower hemoglobin’s affinity for O2—colder or warmer? Warmer, and with higher carbon dioxide and lower pH (the Bohr effect), plus 2,3-BPG in red cells, which promotes release. Plasma proteins, white blood cells, and platelets don’t play the primary role in carrying oxygen.

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