Human whole-blood oxygen affinity: effect of carbon monoxide

Oxygen dissociation curves (ODC) were recorded in the presence of carboxyhemoglobin fractions (FHbCO) up to 60%. The gradual shift to the left of the ODC at increasing amounts of HbCO was reflected in a gradual fall in the half-saturation pressure of the remaining Hb and was accompanied by a gradual change in the shape of the ODC to a hyperbolic one. The H+ factor (delta log PO2/delta pH) was determined over the entire oxygen saturation (SO2) range at three different FHbCO levels (14, 30, and 52%). At FHbCO = 14 and 30% and for the SO2 range 20-90%, the H+ factor vs. SO2 curve was not significantly different from that in the absence of HbCO. At FHbCO = 52%, however, the value found for the H+ factor (-0.55) was appreciably more negative than in the case of blood containing less than 1% HbCO (-0.44), and there was no dependence on SO2. Comparison of measured and calculated ODCs at varying HbCO fractions showed, for FHbCO less than or equal to 50%, that measured and calculated ODCs coincide over the greater part of the SO2 range. For FHbCO greater than 50%, the measured ODC was situated to the left of the calculated one over the entire SO2 range. We conclude that the heme-heme interaction for CO is appreciably larger than for O2 only for FHbCO greater than 50%, whereas for FHbCO less than 50% there is virtually no difference.