Question

Describe how hyperventilation and hypoventilation affect blood CO2 levels, and what are the consequences of each one on hemoglobin saturation (oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve)?

Answer 1

Answer:

Breathing/ventilation is one of the metabolic physiological processes which all living organisms perform to keep them living. The process is divided into two stages; inspiration and expiration.

Inspiration: process of taking in oxygen from the atmosphere to the lungs

Expiration: process of giving off co2 from the lungs to the atmosphere

Different conditions with respect to breathing/ventilation o account of the rate of exchange of the gases namely CO2 and O2 are;

Hyperventilation

Hypoventilation

Hyperventilation is a condition in which the rate of breathing increases rapidly. In the normal process of breathing which remains divided into two phases; inspiration and expiration there is a balance which gets established between the rate of intake of o2 and the rate with which the co2 gets eliminated from the body.

However during the phase of hyperventilation, the normal balance gets disrupted and we end up exhaling more amount of co2 than we inhale o2. Thus, in this condition, the amount of the co2 elimination increases leading to a decline in the partial pressure of Co2 within the blood. A decrease in the partial pressure of the co2 in the blood also leads to a condition which is called as respiratory alkalosis during which the alkalinity of the blood increases.

Also since the partial pressure of the co2 within the blood is decreased, it establishes the fact that the partial pressure of oxygen within the blood increases due to which the oxygen-hemoglobin curve shifts to the left.

Hypoventilation is a condition in which the breathing rate is known to decrease. That is in this process, the normal breathing process gets imbalanced and the amount of the carbon dioxide produced within the body tissues due to metabolism increases as we the process of exhalation gets impaired and the co2 cannot be eliminated in the normal rate.

Due to an increase in the partial pressure of co2, a condition of respiratory acidosis is reported and also as we know that co2 is more soluble in the blood as compared to that of o2; the oxygen-hemoglobin curve is known to shift to the right which leads to the dissociation of the oxygen from the hemoglobin and instead it remains picked up by the co2.

Also, due to impairment in the exhalation rate, the co2 present within the body cells cannot be exhaled and in turn accounts for a condition called as respiratory acidosis. And on account of lesser availability and delivery of oxygen within the different body tissues, respiratory failure also might occur.