Oxygen transport in the blood of arctic mammals: adaptation to local heterothermia

The oxygen binding of whole blood from humans and two arctic mammals, reindeer and muskox, has been studied as a function of carbon dioxide and temperature. All bloods display a marked Bohr effect with Bohr coefficients in the range -0.44- -0.73. The Bohr effect is more pronounced at 20 degrees C. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Brix, O, Bårdgard, A, Mathisen, S, Tyler, N, Nuutinen, M, Giardina, B., CONDO', SAVERIO GIOVANNI
Other Authors: Bårdgard, A, Condo', Sg, Giardina, B
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 1990
Subjects:
Oxygen
Animal
Hemoglobin
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Human
Erythrocyte
Acclimatization
Temperature
Biological Transport
Ruminant
Reindeer
Arctic Regions
Settore BIO/10 - BIOCHIMICA
Arctic
muskox
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2108/54798
Description
Summary:The oxygen binding of whole blood from humans and two arctic mammals, reindeer and muskox, has been studied as a function of carbon dioxide and temperature. All bloods display a marked Bohr effect with Bohr coefficients in the range -0.44- -0.73. The Bohr effect is more pronounced at 20 degrees C. The temperature sensitivity of reindeer and muskox blood expressed by the apparent heat of oxygenation, delta H, is almost three times lower than that of human HbA under the same experimental conditions. This thermodynamic difference gives special benefits to arctic mammals with large heterothermy by safeguarding oxygen unloading at very low ambient temperatures.

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