Some general comments about gas exchange and diffusion will be made, followed by a description of how oxygen is carried in the blood. The binding of oxygen to hemoglobin will be discussed, including the oxygen saturation (or dissociation) curve and factors (allosteric effectors) which cause it to shift. Next, a discussion of the effects of carbon monoxide on oxygen binding will be presented. Finally, a description of artificial oxygen carriers will be presented. Most of these topics are covered in standard textbooks [6,10,54,113] and monographs on oxygen transport [112].
