Exam 37: Gas Exchange Transport

On a percentage basis, there is more carbon dioxide dissolved in the plasma than there is oxygen dissolved in the plasma.

Hemoglobin can carry oxygen more efficiently than it can carry carbon dioxide because all four polypeptide chains can carry oxygen, but only the beta chain can carry carbon dioxide.

The terms oxygen partial pressure and oxygen tension are interchangeable.

Under usual conditions, the partial pressure of oxygen in systemic venous blood is approximately 87 mm Hg.

Explain the process by which oxygen is transported by the blood.

The major form by which carbon dioxide is transported in the circulatory system is:

The structural designs of alveoli and capillaries in lung tissue are such that they facilitate oxygen diffusion. List examples that support the concept that structure determines function.

One factor that determines the amount of oxygen transferred from the lungs to the blood is the total functional surface area of the respiratory membrane.

The Bohr effect describes the effect of an increased PCO₂ causing a decreased affinity between hemoglobin and oxygen.

There are six iron atoms in a single hemoglobin molecule.

By the time the blood leaves the lung capillaries to return to the heart, what percentage of the blood's hemoglobin has united with oxygen?

One reason that carbon monoxide gas is so dangerous is that it attaches to hemoglobin more readily than does oxygen gas.

In a resting person, the oxygen saturation in the systemic venous blood is still about 50%.

Identify the major factors that help determine the amount of oxygen that diffuses into the blood each minute.

When cells increase the rate of oxygen usage, there is an increase in the delivery of oxygen to the cells.

About 10% of the carbon dioxide carried in the blood is simply dissolved in the plasma.

The partial pressure exerted by oxygen in a liquid is called oxygen tension.

The chloride shift is an important step of oxygen transport in the blood.

Assume the percent of oxygen in the air is constant (about 21%). What is the partial pressure of oxygen in the mountains, where the atmospheric pressure is 725 mm Hg?

In order for the cells to get the correct amount of oxygen, the oxygen level in the interstitial fluid must be less than that of the cells.