While revising my knowledge for my human physiology exam, a few important anecdotes stood out to me. First of all, we learned about the relationship between cardiac output and venous return. Then we learned about the Bohr effect, a physiological phenomenon in which oxygen affinity for hemoglobi ngoes down as pH is reduced to 7.4. As a result it unloads oxgen much more easily than it does in the pulmonary system. pH then rises to bout 7.6 then affinity for oxgen increases, which allows hemoglobin to pick up oxygen. Getting rid of carbon dioxide causes a pH change in the lungs and carbon dioxide diffuses much more rapidly than oxygen. When a person is anemic, it is harder for their hemoglobin to pick up oxygen. We discussed carbon monoxide poisoning as well. Carbon monoxide has a very high affinity for hemoglobin, but no oxygen gets to the tissues when carbon monoxide poisoning is occurring. In order ot treat this, the partial pressure of oxgen must be increased because this will increase the ability of oxygen to get to hemoglobin and therefore tissues. An increase in carbon dioxide would be effective as well as it would increase ventilation rate.
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