Facilitated transport of oxygen through solutions of hemoglobin

• Published in: Journal of theoretical biology Vol. 8; no. 3; pp. 469 - 479
• Main Author: Snell, Fred M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.05.1965
• Subjects: Biological Transport; Hemoglobins; Kinetics; Membranes; Models, Theoretical; Oxygen
• ISSN: 0022-5193; 1095-8541
• DOI: 10.1016/0022-5193(65)90022-6

A theoretical development is made to describe the facilitated diffusion of oxygen under steady state conditions through membranes containing concentrated solutions of hemoglobin. In contrast to the developments of other authors this development takes into consideration the kinetics of the chemical reactions of oxygen with hemoglobin. Equilibrium at the gas-liquid interfaces is assumed. The data of Scholander (1960), Hemmingsen & Scholander (1960), and Hemmingsen (1962) are quantitatively described by the resulting equations. For some of the data a reasonable semi-emperical chemical kinetic correction term, necessitated by the lack of experimental information, is utilized. The results indicate that for those data pertaining to the experiments in which a constant difference in oxygen partial pressure was maintained across the membrane at varying absolute partial pressures, the assumption of equilibrium among the chemical reactions is not justified and the kinetics of these reactions must be taken into consideration to obtain a quantitative description.