BRAINCAKEThe Oxygen Dissociation Curve
An oxygen dissociation curve shows the percentage saturation of haemoglobin with oxygen (y-axis) against the partial pressure of oxygen, pO2, in kPa (x-axis). For adult haemoglobin the curve is sigmoid (S-shaped).
The S-shape is explained by cooperative binding:
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Key terms in this lesson
- partial pressure
- The pressure that a particular gas in a mixture would exert if it alone occupied the whole volume.
More in Transport in Animals
- Aortic Aneurysms
- Red Blood Cells
- Haemoglobin
- Oxygen Loading and Unloading
- Partial Pressure of Oxygen
- The Bohr Effect
- Fetal Haemoglobin
- Transport of Carbon Dioxide
All 32 lessons in Transport in Animals · All OCR AS-level Biology topics