4 Gas Transport Flashcards
Q: What do these symbols mean?
P, S, A, a
A: partial pressure
Hb saturation
alveolar
arterial
Q: What are the 5 gas laws?
A: -dalton’s
- fick’s
- henry’s
- boyle’s
- charle’s
Q: What’s Dalton’s Law?
A: partial pressure of a gas mixture is equal to the SUM of the partial pressures of gases in the mixture
Q: What’s Fick’s Law? Equation?
A: molecules diffuse from regions of high concentration to low concentration at a rate proportional to the CONCENTRATION GRADIENT, the exchange SURFACE AREA and the DIFFUSION CAPACITY of the gas, and inversely proportional to the THICKNESS of the exchange surface
A
– x D x [P(1)-P(2)]
T
Q: What’s Henry’s Law? Meaning? Equation?
A: at a constant temperature, the amount of a given gas that dissolves in a given type and volume of liquid is directly proportional to the PARTIAL PRESSURE of that gas in equilibrium with that liquid
i.e. bigger solubility coefficient = will dissolve more easily
C (D Gas)= a(Gas) x P(Gas)
Q: What’s Boyle’s Law? Equation?
A: at a constant temperature, VOLUME IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO PRESSURE
P(Gas) ∝ 1
—
V(Gas)
Q: What’s Charle’s Law? Equation?
A: at a constant pressure, VOLUME IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO TEMPERATURE
V(Gas) ∝ T(Gas)
Q: What is involved in giving someone oxygen therapy? Reason. Show using diagram.
A: supplement the amount of oxygen in the air
As the patient has a diffusion problem, you need to make the diffusion gradient steeper
10 by 10 square. 40 are nitrogen, 59 are oxygen, last square is argon, co2 and others
Q: Show using a diagram what is in room air. (5)
A: 78 are nitrogen, 21 are oxygen
0.9 of a square=Argon
CO2= 0.04
random others
Q: What does having higher altitude mean? (2) Show on diagram.
A: pressure of atmosphere decreases but the PROPORTIONS OF THE GASES REMAINS THE SAME
same as room air proportions but boxes are smaller= smaller volumes
Q: What’s the partial pressure of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water in dry air (at sea level)? How does this change once in the conducting airways? How does this change once in respiratory airways?
A: 21.3kPa
0kPa (effectively when rounded)
0kPa
20kPa (as mixed with air already in there)
0kPa
6.3kPa (becomes saturated as gets warmed, humidified, slowed and mixed as it passes down the respiratory tree)
- 5kPa (100% saturation)
- 3kPa (due to gas exchange)
- 3kPa
Q: Why is it good that we make dry air saturated?
A: protects airways, improves conductivity
Q: How much oxygen can you dissolve in your body? What rate? What is the resting volume of oxygen to keep our body running? Therefore?
A: 16mL, 0.32mL/min
250mL/min (oxygen consumption)
inadequate to support life -> can’t rely solely on dissolved oxygen to keep us alive
Q: What is the structure of haemoglobin? represented? What is the structure of Hb monomers? (4) ability to?
A: tetramer which 2 alpha and 2 beta chains - this is normal haemoglobin and is represented as HbA
ferrous iron ion (Fe2+) at the centre of the tetrapyrrole porphyrin ring connected to a protein chain (globin), covalently bonded at the proximal histamine residue
->Each haem binds ONE molecule of oxygen
Q: Describe a normal variant of Hb. Contributes to what percentage of all haemoglobin? Structure of foetal Hb? presence?
A: HbA2 - this has 2 alpha and 2 delta chains - this constitutes about 2%
HbF= present in trace levels and consists of 2 alpha and 2 gamma chains
Q: The genes responsible for coding the globin chain of Hb can produce how many variants? What are they?
A: 4= alpha, beta, delta, gamma
Q: When Hb is not bound to any oxygen, what is its oxygen affinity? What happens when oxygen does bind? causes? result?
A: low
conformational change where the structure relaxes and gets a greater affinity for oxygen - then more and more oxygen will bind
Q: How does the middle of a Hb molecule change when a conformational change occurs?
A: middle = made a binding site for 2,3-DPG - this is a glycolytic by-product
Q: What happens when ATP is produced in large amounts? reflective of? What can this substance do?
A: more 2,3-DPG is produced so it is reflective of metabolism
2,3-DPG DECREASES the affinity of haemoglobin for oxygen
A: What do you want when metabolism is higher? therefore? result?
A: more oxygen
so the 2,3-DPG will bind to the haemoglobin and squeeze OUT the oxygen so there is more available for the respiring tissue
Q: Why is Hb allosteric?
A: it will change shape depending on what is bound or not bound
Q: Describe the party analogy of Hb. (4) What is this called?
A: Haemoglobin is a party and oxygen is people
If there is no one at the party, then you wont want to go
As the party becomes bigger, everyone wants to go
A lot of people are wanting to be the last people to arrive at this really good party
This is called COOPERATIVITY - it will change its shape and affinity based on how much oxygen is bound
Q: What is MetHb? How is it produced? What can cause this? Oxygen binding? can cause? (2) Abundance?
A: methaemoglobin
if the ferous iron (Fe2+) is oxidised to its ferric form (Fe3+)
-nitrates can oxidise Hb
does not bind to oxygen and methaemoglobinaemia can cause functional anaemia (impaired oxygen capacity)
present in small amounts
Q: What would happen if the oxygen dissociation curve for Hb was linear? Draw a graph and explain (2). How does normal physiological range for PaO2 in the lungs change with age?
A: get a large variation in oxygenation in the lungs
There is a similar situation in the tissues - there is very little scope for increasing unloading
normal physiological range for PaO2 in the lungs decreases as you get older