how does oxygen actually enter the cell in humans, particularly in reference to blood and capillaries?

Question

I understand oxyhemoglobin is the saturated form, but once it reaches capillaries does it just “let go” of it’s bound oxygen? Wouldn’t there be a problem with ROS formation?

In: 3

Answer 1

Essentially, once blood cells reach the capillaries, the concentration of oxygen is lower than inside the cell, so hemoglobin lets go of it. This is because Hg exists as a chemical equilibrium of oxygenated and not oxygenated, and in the case that there is less oxygen, the not oxygenated form prevails. After this, O2 simply diffuses through the membrane to where it is needed in the cell due to concentration gradient