These questions are from the Oxygenation of Hemoglobin lab. 1) In this lab exper

Question

These questions are from the Oxygenation of Hemoglobin lab.

1)  In this lab experiment, the absorbance was measured at 540 and 556 nm. Pulse oximeters use LED’s that produce red and infrared light at much longer wavelengths. Why is red and infrared light used? What I have so far...--> LED emits red and infrared light that can be abosrbed by Hb and HbO2. A photodetector measures the amount of light that is not absorbed. (Yeah, not sure if this is right or even close)

2)  Cyanide can also bind strongly to the heme Fe in hemoglobin. Based on the structure would you expect CN- to bind to hemoglobin more similarly to CO or to O2?

Explanation / Answer

1) Pulse oximeter is used to measure oxygen saturation or we can say that it measure the amount of hemoglobin which is carrying oxygen. Now, oxygenated hemoglobin and deoxygenated hemoglobin will absorb light at different wavelength. red light with absorbance of 650nm is absorbed by oxygeneraed hemoglobin whereas deoxygenated hemoglobin use infrared light of 950nm.

2) Inside hemoglobin oxygen is bound with the iron atome, whereas caron monoxide will bind with the protein chain of the hemoglobin. On the other hand CN binds to the iron center of hemoglobin. Thus CN binds to hemoglobin more similar manner to oxygen rather than CO.

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