Haemoglobin, oxygen carriers and perioperative organ perfusion

Roman Kocian1, Donat R Spahn

  • 1Institute of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital, Raemistrasse 100, 8091 Zürich, Switzerland.

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Hemoglobin is a globular protein made up of four subunits. Two of these subunits are alpha chains, and the other two are beta chains. Each subunit contains a molecule of heme, which has an iron atom and can bind to oxygen. When an oxygen molecule binds to one heme group, it changes the shape of hemoglobin, making it easier for the other heme groups to bind oxygen as well.
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