What is the amount of O₂ delivered to the tissues per 100 ml of...

Partial pressure of CO₂, hydrogen ion concentration and temperature are the other factors which can interfere with this binding. A sigmoid curve is obtained when percentage saturation of haemoglobin with O₂ is plotted against the pO2. This curve is called the Oxygen dissociation curve and is highly useful in studying the effect of factors like pCO2, H⁺ concentration, etc., on binding of O₂ with haemoglobin. In the alveoli, where there is high pO2, low pCO2, lesser H⁺ concentration and lower temperature, the factors are all favourable for the formation of oxyhaemoglobin, whereas in the tissues, where low pO2, high pCO2, high H⁺ concentration and higher temperature exist, the conditions are favourable for dissociation of oxygen from the oxyhaemoglobin. This clearly indicates that O₂ gets bound to haemoglobin in the lung surface and gets dissociated at the tissues. Every 100 ml of oxygenated blood can deliver around 5 ml of O₂ to the tissues under normal physiological conditions.