KINE 2011 Lecture Notes - Bone Marrow, Red Blood Cell, Erythropoiesis
19 Nov 2012
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Document Summary
The main function of erythrocytes is to transport oxygen in the blood. Hemoglobin is the main component which allows red blood cells to transport oxygen and hemoglobin is only found in erythrocytes. Hemoglobin molecule has two components: 1) the globin portion which is a protein made up of. 4 highly folded polypeptide chains and 2) four iron containing non protein heme groups each of which is bound to one polypeptide chain. Oxygen is poorly soluble in plasma therefore the majority of oxygen is bound to hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is red because of the combination of iron and oxygen and when it is deoxygenated it is blue like venous blood. H+ from carbonic acid, hemoglobin acts like a buffer to prevent this ion from causing big changes in ph of the blood. Erythrocytes contain no nucleus, organelles or ribosomes because during their development the majority of the space is taken up by hemoglobin.
