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Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 175, Issue 1 15-32, Copyright © 1993 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

ALLOSTERIC CONTROL OF OXYGEN BINDING BY HAEMOGLOBIN DURING EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE CROCODILE CROCODYLUS POROSUS: THE ROLE OF RED CELL ORGANIC PHOSPHATES AND CARBON DIOXIDE

G. C. Grigg, RMG. Wells and L. A. Beard

The P50 of whole blood [30°C, PCO2=2.08 kPa (15.6 mmHg)] decreases during embryonic development from approximately 6.7 kPa (50 mmHg) at 15 days to about half this value at hatching (86 days), paralleling a decrease in ATP from 100 to 5-10 micromole g-1 Hb. There is also a progressive changeover from embryonic to adult haemoglobin (HbA). A pulse of 2,3- diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) (18 micromole g-1 Hb) occurs late in embryonic life. It has no effect on whole-blood oxygen-affinity and falls rapidly at hatching to values typical of post-hatchling crocodilians in general (<1.0 micromole g-1 Hb). ATP has a marked effect on the oxygen affinity of embryonic haemoglobin (HbE) but not on HbA. 2,3-DPG has only very small effects on the oxygen affinities of HbE and HbA. CO2 has a small effect on the oxygen affinity of HbE but a marked effect on that of HbA. Values of PO2 measured in the chorio-allantoic artery [2.9 kPa (22 mmHg)] and vein [5.9 kPa (52 mmHg)] imply an increase in saturation from approximately 30 % to more than 80 %. Neither whole-blood oxygen-affinity nor ATP level was altered in response to an experimental 7-day exposure to low ambient oxygen levels [10.7 kPa (80 mmHg)]. The results do not lend themselves easily to the pan-selectionist paradigm in which all physiological traits are viewed as being adaptive.


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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1993