Bohr effect
Effect of carbon dioxide on haemoglobin
Bohr effect
The Bohr effect is a phenomenon first described in 1904 by the Danish physiologist Christian Bohr (who was also the father of the physicist and Nobel laureate Niels Bohr). Hemoglobin's oxygen binding affinity (see oxygen–haemoglobin dissociation curve) is inversely related both to acidity and to the concentration of carbon dioxide. That is, the Bohr effect refers to the shift in the oxygen dissociation curve caused by changes in the concentration of carbon dioxide or the pH of the environment. Since carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid, an increase in CO2 results in a decrease in blood pH, resulting in hemoglobin proteins releasing their load of oxygen. Conversely, a decrease in carbon dioxide provokes an increase in pH, which results in hemoglobin picking up more oxygen.
Read on Wikipedia · Image derivative work: Noca2plus (talk) Christian_Bohr_u016.jpg: Photographer unknown. Subject (Bohr) deceased. Original photographic print is owned by the Niels Bohr Archive (Denmark)., CC BY-SA 3.0
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