The Color Of Blood Before It Hits Oxygen

Regulation of Tissue Oxygenation, Second Edition

This presentation describes various aspects of the regulation of tissue oxygenation, including the roles of the circulatory system, respiratory system, and blood, the carrier of oxygen within these components of the cardiorespiratory system. The respiratory system takes oxygen from the atmosphere and transports it by diffusion from the air in the alveoli to the blood flowing through the pulmonary capillaries. The cardiovascular system then moves the oxygenated blood from the heart to the microcirculation of the various organs by convection, where oxygen is released from hemoglobin in the red blood cells and moves to the parenchymal cells of each tissue by diffusion. Oxygen that has diffused into cells is then utilized in the mitochondria to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of all cells. The mitochondria are able to produce ATP until the oxygen tension or PO2 on the cell surface falls to a critical level of about 4–5 mm Hg. Thus, in order to meet the energetic needs of cells, it is important to maintain a continuous supply of oxygen to the mitochondria at or above the critical PO2 . In order to accomplish this desired outcome, the cardiorespiratory system, including the blood, must be capable of regulation to ensure survival of all tissues under a wide range of circumstances. The purpose of this presentation is to provide basic information about the operation and regulation of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, as well as the properties of the blood and parenchymal cells, so that a fundamental understanding of the regulation of tissue oxygenation is achieved.

Chemistry and Biochemistry of Oxygen Therapeutics

Human blood performs many important functions including defence against disease and transport of biomolecules, but perhaps the most important is to carry oxygen – the fundamental biochemical fuel - and other blood gases around the cardiovascular system. Traditional therapies for the impairment of this function, or the rapid replacement of lost blood, have centred around blood transfusions. However scientists are developing chemicals (oxygen therapeutics, or “blood substitutes”) which have the same oxygen-carrying capability as blood and can be used as replacements for blood transfusion or to treat diseases where oxygen transport is impaired. Chemistry and Biochemistry of Oxygen Therapeutics: From Transfusion to Artificial Blood links the underlying biochemical principles of the field with chemical and biotechnological innovations and pre-clinical development. The first part of the book deals with the chemistry, biochemistry, physiology and toxicity of oxygen, including chapters on hemoglobin reactivity and regulation; the major cellular and physiological control mechanisms of blood flow and oxygen delivery; hemoglobin and myoglobin; nitric oxide and oxygen; and the role of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in ischemia/reperfusion Injury. The book then discusses medical needs for oxygen supply, including acute traumatic hemorrhage and anemia; diagnosis and treatment of haemorrhages in "non-surgical" patients; management of perioperative bleeding; oxygenation in the preterm neonate; ischemia normobaric and hyperbaric oxygen therapy for ischemic stroke and other neurological conditions; and transfusion therapy in β thalassemia and sickle cell disease Finally “old”and new strategies for oxygen supply are described. These include the political, administrative and logistic issues surrounding transfusion; conscientious objection in patient blood management; causes and consequences of red cell incompatibility; biochemistry of red blood cell storage; proteomic investigations on stored red blood cells; red blood cells from stem cells; the universal red blood cell; allosteric effectors of hemoglobin; hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers; oxygen delivery by natural and artificial oxygen carriers; cross-linked and polymerized hemoglobins as potential blood substitutes; design of novel pegylated hemoglobins as oxygen carrying plasma expanders; hb octamers by introduction of surface cysteines; hemoglobin-vesicles as a cellular type hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier; animal models and oxidative biomarkers to evaluate pre-clinical safety of extracellular hemoglobins; and academia – industry collaboration in blood substitute development. Chemistry and Biochemistry of Oxygen Therapeutics: From Transfusion to Artificial Blood is an essential reference for clinicians, haematologists, medicinal chemists, biochemists, molecular biologists, biotechnologists and blood substitute researchers.

Blood Groups and Red Cell Antigens