Bohr effect

You don't need to be Editor-In-Chief to add or edit content to WikiDoc. You can begin to add to or edit text on this WikiDoc page by clicking on the edit button at the top of this page. Next enter or edit the information that you would like to appear here. Once you are done editing, scroll down and click the Save page button at the bottom of the page.

Oxyhemoglobin Dissociation Curve. Dotted red line corresponds with shift to the right caused by Bohr effect.

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Phone:617-525-6884

Please Take Over This Page and Apply to be Editor-In-Chief for this topic: There can be one or more than one Editor-In-Chief. You may also apply to be an Associate Editor-In-Chief of one of the subtopics below. Please mail us [2] to indicate your interest in serving either as an Editor-In-Chief of the entire topic or as an Associate Editor-In-Chief for a subtopic. Please be sure to attach your CV and or biographical sketch.

The Bohr effect is a property of hemoglobin first described by the Danish physiologist Christian Bohr in 1904, and often erroneously attributed to his son, physicist Niels Bohr, which states that in the presence of carbon dioxide, the oxygen affinity for dissociation of respiratory pigments, such as hemoglobin decreases; because of the Bohr effect, an increase in blood carbon dioxide level or a decrease in pH causes hemoglobin to bind to oxygen with less affinity.

This effect facilitates oxygen transport as hemoglobin binds to oxygen in the lungs, but then releases it in the tissues, particularly those tissues in most need of oxygen. When a tissue's metabolic rate increases, its carbon dioxide production increases. The carbon dioxide is quickly converted into bicarbonate molecules and acidic protons by the enzyme carbonic anhydrase:

CO₂+ H₂O H⁺ + HCO₃⁻

This causes the pH of the tissue to decrease, and so increases the dissociation of oxygen from hemoglobin, allowing the tissue to obtain enough oxygen to meet its demands.

The dissociation curve shifts to the right when carbon dioxide or hydrogen ion concentration is increased. This facilitates increased oxygen dumping. This makes sense because increased CO₂ concentration and lactic acid build-up occur when the muscles need more oxygen. Changing hemoglobin's oxygen affinity is the body's way of adapting quickly to this problem.

In the Hiroshima variant hemoglobinopathy the Bohr effect is diminished so the hemoglobin has a higher affinity for oxygen and tissue may suffer minor oxygen starvation during high work.

See also

• Haldane effect

External links

• Impact of training

hr:Bohrov efekt it:Effetto Bohr he:אפקט בוהר nl:Bohr-effect

Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content

Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .