Haemoglobin's oxygen binding is described by the Hill function with and

PHYSICS · Subjective · Fermi University Physics · Biophysics & Medical Physics · Macromolecules, membranes and cell architecture · Macromolecules, membranes and cell architecture

Forces, Machines and Signals, Ch Cooperativity: zippers, melting and allosteric binding

Problem

Haemoglobin's oxygen binding is described by the Hill function

\theta(p) = p^{n_H}/(p^{n_H}+p_{50}^{n_H})

with

n_H = 2.8

and

p_{50} = 26\,\mathrm{mmHg}

. Arterial blood leaving the lungs is at

p_{\mathrm{O_2}} = 100\,\mathrm{mmHg}

; venous blood returning from resting muscle is at

p_{\mathrm{O_2}} = 40\,\mathrm{mmHg}

. Find the fraction of bound oxygen released between the lungs and resting muscle.

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