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Move the mouse pointer over the image to interconvert it between deoxyHbA and oxyHb,
as it "soaks up" oxygen or "squeezes" oxygen out to release it in the immediate environment. |
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- By the sponge analogy, Ya is a measure of how much oxygen Hb sponge binds.
- Since O2 binding is a dynamic process, Hb is an "oxygen sponge" in that it continuously is either being soaked with oxygen (in the oxygen-rich environment of the lungs) or "squeezed" forcing it to release of some or all of its bound oxygen (in oxygen starved capillaries that penetrate oxygen-consuming tissues).
- In other words, Hb is being forced to "expand" or "contract" between its oxy- and deoxy-conformations and in the process it binds or releases oxygen.
- Just as a sponge can can hold only so much water, depending on its size and
elasticity, Hb can bind only so much oxygen, 4 O2 molecules for each Hb molecule to be exact.
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