Abstract
The respiratory properties of the whole blood of the burrowing red band fish Cepola rubescens L. were investigated. Oxygen dissociation curves constructed at 15°C were found to be close to hyperbolic in shape with a mean value for the cooperativity coefficient at half-saturation ( n 50) of 1.56. Half-saturation oxygen tension ( P 50) for pH = 7.56 (mean in vivo pH of venous blood) was 27 Torr. The blood showed a marked Bohr effect ( Δ log P 50 ΔpH = −1.19 ) and also a Root effect which at the in vivo pH reduced oxygen carrying capacity by 20%. The Pv CO 2 was 3.2 Torr and the buffering power of the blood was low, the buffer value of true plasma averaging 5.43 mmol · 1 −1 · pH −1. It is suggested that the large Bohr effect coupled with the low buffer value confers on the haemoglobin a flexibility, in terms of oxygen affinity, to withstand changes which occur in environmental oxygen tensions.
Published Version
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