Hospitals are looking for anyway to cut costs while maintain

Hospitals are looking for anyway 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 to hemoglobin.

How does the drug effect hemoglobin’s affinity for O2? Explain.

1.0 e 0.5 po In tissues po (kPa) po, in lungs 12 16 Hemoglobin (no drug)

Solution

One hemoglobin molecule bind to four Oxygen molecules or elemen ts. Hemoglobin show cooperative binding with Oxygen. That means if one element of Oxygen bind to hemoglobin, it change the conformation of Hb molecule and decrease the Km value for next oxygen element. That means first oxygen possess less affinity towards Hb, followed by gradually increases affinity towards Oxygen binding. So the drug might bind to Hb, change conformation of Hb, decreases the Km of the Hb, towards Oxygen. This is one possible mechanism.