With hospital funding going down, local hospitals are looking for any way to cut

Question

With hospital funding going down, local hospitals are looking for any way to cut costs while maintaining quality of care. One large expense is the delivery oxygen gas to patients, which increases tissues oxygenation levels in patients with impaired breathing function. A company is testing an injectable drug that they claim can increase the amount of oxygen to the tissues by binding hemoglobin. po, in tissues po, in lungs 1.0 Hemoglobin (no drug) 12 16 po2 (kPa) In the chart above, where the solid line represents the binding affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen with NO drug treatment. Which curve above (dotted or dashed) represents the affinity of hemoglobin of oxygen after drug treatment? Explain in terms of the chart your answer.

Explanation / Answer

Hi,
The binding of oxygen to hemoglobin is cooperative. That means the binding of oxygen is better when already some oxygen is bound to heoglobin. The normal curve is sigmoidal as given in the image. When the binding affinity increases as in this case using drug, then the curve shifts to the left. If the binding is poor then the curve shits to the right. In the given example, the drug binding curve is the one on the left (dashed).

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