TRANSPORT OF CO2

Dr. Roopa Kotha

Dr. Shaji Mathew
 Overview

 Law of diffusion

 Different methods of transport

 CO2 content

 CO2 dissociation curve

 Chloride shift, Bohr effect, Haldane effect

 Double Bohr effect, Double Haldane effect

 • How the gas
movement
occur between
lungs and
tissues?

• For CO2,
direction is
opposite to O2

Tissues  Blood  Lungs  Air transport

 Simple diffusion

It’s a process of movement of gas molecules from an

area of high partial pressure to low partial
pressure
 Law of diffusion
 Fick’s law of diffusion
 gas = A x D ( P 1 - P 2 )
T
gas - movement of gases
A - cross sectional area of membrane
D - diffusion co-efficient of the gas
(P1- P2) - partial pressure gradient
T - thickness of membrane
Fick’s law of diffusion
 Partial pressure gradients for O2 & CO2
CO2 pressure gradient is 1/10th of O2
CO2 diffuses 20 times faster because of higher solubility
 Uptake of CO2 at tissue capillaries
 Interstitial PCO2 is 45 mm Hg, PCO2 of arterial blood
is 40 mm Hg, so CO2 will be taken up by capillaries
and PCO2 of venous end becomes 45 mm Hg
 Diffusion of CO2 from pulmonary blood in to
alveolus
 In lungs, PCO2 at arterial end is 45 mm Hg and at
alveoli is 40 mm Hg. So CO2 diffuses out to alveoli and
PCO2 at venous end will become 40 mm Hg
Fate of CO2 in blood
 Dissolved CO2
 Henry’s law of solubility

 PCO2 X Solubility coefficient = CO2 concentration in

solution

 Solubility coefficient for CO2 is 0.069 mL/dL/mm Hg at

370C

 Accounts to 7% of total CO2 transport

Chemically Combined with Plasma Proteins

 In plasma, CO2 combines with free amine (NH2)

group of proteins, forming a carbamino
compounds

 Prot-NH2 + CO2  Prot-NHCOO- + H+

 Contributes to < 1% of total CO2 transport

Chemically combined with Haemoglobin in RBC

 CO2 reacts with free amine groups of haemoglobin and

forms carbaminohaemoglobin compound

 This reaction produces hydrogen ions, which are

buffered by reduced haemoglobin

 Carbaminohaemoglobin constitutes
approximately 21% of total
CO2 transport
 Transport as Bicarbonate ions

 Major method of transport of CO2

 CO2 combines with water and forms carbonic

acid, which quickly ionizes to hydrogen and
bicarbonate ions

 CO2 + H2O  H2CO3  HCO3- + H+

 These hydrogen ions are buffered by proteins in

plasma and haemoglobin in RBC
 Transport as Bicarbonate ions
 In plasma, this reaction is slow

 In RBC, presence of carbonic anhydrase enzyme

accelerates the reaction rate to 5000 fold

 In RBCs, it takes 10 milliseconds for the reaction to

be complete

 Large amounts of CO2 (about 70%) reacts with red

blood cells water
Transport as Bicarbonate ions

Plasma
Methods of transport of CO2
CO2 content in arterial and venous blood
 Carbon dioxide Dissociation Curve
 Relationship between PCO2 and CO2 concentration
 More linear compared to ODC
Typical O2 and CO2 Dissociation Curves on same
scale
 Chloride shift

• Hamburger phenomenon
• As the hydrolysis of CO2 continues, bicarbonate
ions gets accumulated in RBC
• About 70% these anions enters plasma across the
gradient
• To maintain the electrolyte equilibrium, chloride
ions will be exchanged with bicarbonate ions,
via anion exchanger or band 3 protein
 Bohr effect

Tissues Lungs
High PCO2 Low PCO2

CO2+ H2O H2CO3

Less H+

HCO3- +H+
Alkalosis

Acidosis

Shift of ODC to left

Shift of ODC to right
More loading of O2
More unloading of O2
Bohr effect
 Haldane effect
 Influence of
Haemoglobin saturation
on CO2 dissociation

 When O2 binds to
haemoglobin, CO2
dissociation curve is
shifted to right side, CO2
is released

(mm Hg)
 Haldane effect
 In lungs PO2 increases
from 40 to 100 mm Hg
causing CO2 dissociation
curve to be shifted to
right

 CO2 content falls from 52

to 48 mL/dL instead of 50
mL/dL, doubling the
amount of CO2 released
(mm Hg)
from blood in lungs
 “Haldane effect”

Why does it happen?

 Haldane effect
 Combination of O2 with haemoglobin (in lungs)
makes it a strong acid

1. Highly acidic Hb has less tendency to combine with

CO2, displacing more of CO2 that is in carbamino
form from blood

2. Increased acidity causes excess of hydrogen ions

release, which combine with bicarbonate to form
carbonic acid, this dissociates into water and CO2,
released from blood in to alveoli
Transport at pulmonary capillaries
 Double Bohr effect

 Bohr effect taking

place simultaneously
in both maternal and
foetal circulation,
assists in increased
oxygen uptake from
placenta
 Double Bohr effect

 Increase in PCO2 in the maternal intervillous

sinuses assists oxygen unloading (ODC is shifted
to right)

 Decrease in PCO2 on the foetal side of the

circulation assists oxygen loading (ODC is shifted
to left)
 Double Haldane effect

 Haldane effect taking

place simultaneously
in mother and foetus

 Facilitates the transfer

of carbon dioxide from
the foetus to mother
 Double Haldane effect
 As maternal blood releases O2, it is able to carry
more CO2 as carbaminohaemoglobin (CO2
dissociation curve is shifted to left)

 At the same time as the foetal blood takes up O2,

it releases CO2 that is combined with foetal
haemoglobin (CO2 dissociation curve is shifted to
right)
 References
 Arthur C. Guyton, John E. Hall. Text book of medical physiology, 11th ed.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 2006. p. 495-504.

 Kim Barrett, Heddwen Brooks, Scott Boitano, Susan Berman. Ganong’s

review of medical physiology, 23rd ed. McGraw-Hill Companies, New Delhi,
2010. p. 609-613.

 John B. West, Respiratory physiology, 9th ed. Lippincott Williams &

Wilkins,Baltimore,2012. p. 82-85.

 Robert M.Kacmarek, James K.Stoller, Albert J.Heuer, Egan’s Fundamentals

of respiratory care, 10th ed. Mosby, Missouri,2013. p. 253-266.
Capillary transit time
 Capillary transit time
 Time spent by the blood (RBC) in pulmonary
capillaries

 Normal – 0.75 seconds

 Blood PO2 equilibrates with alveolar PO2 in 1/3 rd of

this time, in 0.25 seconds

 During exercise, capillary transit time is reduced to

0.25 seconds, adequate enough for the diffusion to
occur