Question

how would a drug that is soluble in the blood affect hemoglobin?

biochem

Answer 1

Blood is a body fluid in humans and other animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. The blood cells are mainly red blood cells (also called RBCs or erythrocytes), white blood cells (also called WBCs or leukocytes) and platelets (also called thrombocytes). The most abundant cells in vertebrate blood are red blood cells. These contain hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein, which facilitates oxygen transport by reversibly binding to this respiratory gas and greatly increasing its solubility in blood. In contrast, carbon dioxide is mostly transported extracellularly as bicarbonate ion transported in plasma.

Oxygen lack is known as hypoxia; the complete absence of oxygen is called anoxia. The arterial oxygen tension is related to the amount of oxygen dissolved in blood plasma, not the much larger pool that is bound to hemoglobin. This condition could result from an overdose of a vasodilator drug, such as nitroglycerin. Activation of the chemoreceptors results in the labored breathing pattern known as dyspnea, as the body tries to compensate for the hypoxia.