Question

Hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen is how much oxygen is actually currently held by the hemoglobin. So, if hemoglobin has high oxygen saturation, hemoglobin's affininty for oxygen is high. What do you think happens to hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen as it moves through the systemic capillaries? As the RBC moves through the systemic capillary, hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen increases. As hemoglobin moves through the systemic capillary, hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen stays the same. As the RBC moves through the systemic capillary, hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen decreases.

Answer 1

Hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen decreases as RBC move through the systemic capillaries, thus facilitating the release of oxygen to tissues with lower oxygen concentration and higher metabolic demand.

Step-by-step explanation:

As the red blood cells (RBC) move through the systemic capillaries, hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen tends to decrease. This is due to the oxygen-hemoglobin saturation/dissociation curve, which shows that when the partial pressure of oxygen is high, such as in the lungs, hemoglobin has a high affinity for oxygen and is likely to be fully saturated. However, in the systemic capillaries, as oxygen is delivered to tissues, the partial pressure of oxygen within the capillaries decreases, which leads to a lower affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen. This reduction facilitates the release of oxygen to the tissues that have a lower oxygen concentration and a higher demand due to metabolic activity.

The physiological process described by the affinity for oxygen decreases is an automatic control mechanism that ensures tissues with higher metabolic demands receive more oxygen. Additionally, factors such as increased carbon dioxide concentration or a decrease in pH can further reduce hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen, favoring oxygen release.

Answer 2

As the RBC moves through the systemic capillary, hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen decreases.

Step-by-step explanation:

Red blood cells (RBC) contain hemoglobin molecule which carries the oxygen through the blood. The blood with RBC moves through the systemic capillary and deliveries oxygen to the tissue (oxygen is released from the hemoglobin into the cell of the certain tissue). So, as the RBC moves through the systemic capillary hemoglobin's oxygen saturation lowers and consequently, hemoglobin's affininty decreases.