Final answer:
The statement that approximately 20 mL of oxygen are transported via oxyhemoglobin per 100 mL of whole blood is true. Most oxygen in blood is bound to hemoglobin, with only a small percentage being directly dissolved in the blood.
Step-by-step explanation:
Oxygen Transport in Blood
The statement that approximately 20 mL of oxygen is carried via oxyhemoglobin per 100 mL of whole blood is TRUE. Oxygen is vital for the survival of multicellular organisms, including humans. The transport of oxygen in the blood is primarily accomplished by erythrocytes, or red blood cells, through a process that involves hemoglobin, a metalloprotein. Each hemoglobin molecule can bind up to four oxygen molecules owing to the four iron-containing heme groups it possesses. Although a minimal amount of oxygen — about 1.5% — is dissolved directly in the blood, the majority, which is 98.5%, is bound to hemoglobin and carried to the tissues.
Notably, hemoglobin is a highly efficient transporter of oxygen due to its structure and binding affinity, which allows it to carry a significant amount of oxygen despite the low solubility of oxygen in bodily fluids. This is important because the low Henry's law constant for O₂ in water would otherwise limit the amount of oxygen that could be transported in our blood. The red color of blood is a result of the oxygen-bound form of hemoglobin known as oxyhemoglobin. Synthetic oxygen carriers, based on fluorinated alkanes, have been developed, and their high O₂ solubility offers advantages similar to those of natural hemoglobin.