Transport of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide in Blood and
Tissue Fluids
 presence of hemoglobin in the red blood cells
allows the blood to
transport 30 to 100 times as much oxygen as
could
be transported in the form of dissolved oxygen in
the water of the blood
 Carbon dioxide, like oxygen, also combines
with chemical substances in the blood that
increase carbon dioxide transport
15- to 20-fold
 partial pressure difference from the first point to
the next  cause movement of gas
 oxygen diffuses from the alveoli
into the pulmonary capillary blood because the
oxygen partial pressure (Po2)
in the alveoli is greater than the Po2 in the
pulmonary capillary blood
 Ug asa ang gamay na Po2 didto mu adto ang
daghan na PO2 like alveoli to capillary blood and
capillary blood to tissues
 Tissue pCO2 > capillary pCO2 so mu diffuse and
tissue pCO2 paingon capillary then capillary
pCO2 > alveoli pCO2 mao adto pCO2 from
capillary to the alveoli
 Trasnsport of O2 and CO2 dependent on:
o Diffusion
o Flow of blood
 Alveolar O2 104 mmHg
 
 Venous O2 40mmHg
 Partial pressure difference  64mmHg
 Blood moved a third of the distance
through the capillary, becoming almost 104 mm
Hg and little additional oxygen normally enters
the blood during the latter two thirds of its transit
 Exercise need 20x more O2 than normal
 Increased exercise Increased cardiac output
Decreased pulmonary capillary blood to less than
½ normal BUT great safety factor for
diffusion of oxygen through the pulmonary
membrane, the blood still becomes almost
saturated with oxygen by the time it leaves the
pulmonary capillaries
o Increased 3x diffusing capacity of O2
during exercise due to increased
surface area of capillaries and more
nearly ideal ventilation-perfusion ratio
in the upper part of the lungs
o bloodnormally stays in the lung
capillaries about three times as long as
necessary to cause full oxygenation
o pero because almost saturated by the
one third of pulmonary capillary 
during exercise, even with a shortened
time
of exposure in the capillaries, the blood
can still
become fully oxygenated, or nearly so.
 98% blood that enters the left
atrium from the lungs has just passed through the
alveolar capillaries and has become oxygenated
up to a Po2
of about 104 mm Hg
 2% blood enter left atrium has passed from the
aorta through the bronchial circulation, which
supplies mainly the deep tissues of the lungs and
is not exposed to lung air.
 Shunt flow
o blood is shunted past
the gas exchange areas
o leaves the lungs with pO2 like venous
blood 40mmHg
 venous admixture of blood  shunt blood +
oxygenated blood in pulmonary vein mixture
causes the Po2 of the blood
entering the left heart and pumped into the aorta
to fall to about 95 mm Hg.
 95mmHg upper limit to which the Po2 can
rise, even with maximal blood flow because this
is the oxygen pressure in the arterial blood.
 40mmHg lower limit to when pO2 can
decrease
 Arterial blood reaches the peripheral tissues, its
Po2 in the capillaries is still 94mmHg
 interstitial fluid that surrounds the tissue cells
averages only 40 mm Hg.
 Tissue cells pO2  23 mmHg
 Increased blood flow Increased O2 transport
Increased pO2
Increased 400% in blood flow ONLY increases
pO2 to 66mmHg
 Increased metabolism of cells Decreased pO2 in
interstitial fluid
 pO2 determined by:
o Rate of O2 transport to tissues in the
blood
o rate at which the oxygen is used
by the tissues.
 5 mm Hg to as high as 40 mm Hg averaging 23
mmHg  Normal intracellular pO2
 1-3mmHg pO2  required for full support of the
chemical processes that use oxygen in the cell,
provide large safety factor
 carbon dioxide can diffuse about 20 times as
rapidly as
oxygen
 Partial difference of Co2 is less than O2 for
diffusion
 Intracellular Pco2, 46 mm Hg; interstitial Pco2,45
mm Hg. Thus, there is only a 1 mm Hg pressure
differential
 Alveolus pCO2  40mmHg
 Pulmonary capillary pCO2 venous end 40
mmHg
 Pulmonary capillary pCO2 arterial end  45
mmHg
 Pco2 of the arterial blood entering the tissues, 40
mm Hg; Pco2 of the venous blood leaving the
tissues, 45 mm Hg.
 Pulmonary capillary arterial end pCO2 = pCO2 normal is delivered in each volume of blood that
of alveoli in one third the distance through the passes through the tissues
capillaries  Utilization coefficient
 Tissue capillary blood flow and tissue o percentage of the blood that gives up its
metabolism affect the Pco2 in ways exactly oxygen as it passes through the tissue
opposite to their effect on tissue Po2 capillaries
 Decreased blood flow to ¼ normal  Increases o normal is 25% oxygenated hemoglobin
peripheral tissue pCO2 from 45mmHg to 60 gives its oxygen to the tissues
mmHg o During exercise, utilization coefficient
 Increased blood flow to 6x normal  decreases is 75-85%
pCO2 of 45mmHg (normal) to 40mmHg (equal o 100% utilization coefficient when
to pCo2 in arterial blood entering tissue blood flow is slow and when metabolic
capillaries) rate is high
 10-fold increase in tissue metabolic rate greatly  Hemoglobin
elevates the interstitial fluid Pco2 at all rates of o tissue oxygen buffer system
blood flow o responsible for stabilizing the oxygen
 Decreasing the metabolism to one quarter normal pressure in the tissues
causes the interstitial fluid Pco2 to fall to about o Maintaining Nearly Constant PO2 in
41 mm Hg, closely approaching that of the the Tissues.
arterial blood, 40 mm Hg 
 97% oxygen carried to tissues by hemoglobin
 3% transported in the dissolved state in the water
of the plasma and blood cells.
 Under normal conditions, oxygen carried to
tissues almost entirely by hemoglobin
 oxygen molecule combines loosely and
reversibly with the heme portion of hemoglobin
 percent saturation of hemoglobin- Increased pO2
causes increased oxygen bound to hemoglobin
 pO2 blood leaving lungs entering systemic artery
 95mmHg with usual oxygen saturation of
systemic arterial blood averages 97%
 Normal venous blood from tissues has pO2 of
40mmHg with saturation of hemoglobin averages
75%
 100mL blood: 15g hemoglobin
 1 gram hgb: 1.34mL O2 but 1.39mL when hgb is
chemically pure
 15 times 1.34 equals 20.1  on average, the 15
grams of hemoglobin in 100 milliliters of blood
can combine with a total of almost exactly 20
milliliters of oxygen if the hemoglobin is 100 per
cent saturated. 20 volumes %
 Pero quantity of oxygen bound with hemoglobin
in normal systemic arterial blood is 97%
saturated NOT 100% saturated so 19.4 mL per
100mL blood ra nga oxygen then reduced to 14.4
mL kay (Po2 of 40 mm Hg, 75 per cent saturated
hemoglobin
 under normal conditions, about 5
milliliters of oxygen are transported from the
lungs to
the tissues by each 100 milliliters of blood flow
 Increased heavy exercise Increased O2 uptake
Decreased interstitial pO2 from 40 mmHg to
15mmHg  only 4.4 milliliters of oxygen remain
bound with the hemoglobin in each 100
milliliters of blood
 19.4-4.4= 15mL quantity of oxygen actually
delivered to the tissues by each 100 milliliters of
blood flow. three times as much oxygen as