The efficiency of oxygen circulation in the body is a guarantee of vitality
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The largest demand for oxygen, as well as for energetic substances burned with its participation show hard-working organs: brain, heart muscle, skeletal muscles of legs and hands, liver, kidneys, etc. The efficiency of oxygen circulation in the body determines indirectly how fast we walk, we run and how much physical strength we have. The abundant presence of oxygen also determines the efficiency of thinking and acting, because the largest recipient is the brain. Excessive reduction of oxygen saturation - even by 5% - significantly reduces the ability of human concentration and the possibility of precise coordination of muscle work. [5,7]
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The role of iron as an oxygen carrier
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This element binds oxygen and transports it through the blood, the lungs, into the cells of tissues and organs. Oxygen is essential for numerous cellular syntheses that require significant amounts of energy. The source of this energy is oxidation with the help of numerous enzymes of nutrients, so as to provide us with the necessary life energy. Iron deficiency deprives the body of energy, which results in general weakness and other health disorders called anemia. [1,2,5]
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Iron is part of the red oxygen transporting cells
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The transport of oxygen associated with iron is made by blood. The carrier and at the same time the transport packaging are red blood cells (from Latin erythrocytes) - namely the red dye that fills the blood cells - hemoglobin. Iron connected with hemoglobin heme binding acts on oxygen as magnesium. It catches the atmospheric gas in the alveoli and then binds oxygen together for transport to the tissues and organs via the bloodstream. It can be said that heme iron activates countless armada of oxygen carriers - about 35 trillion red blood cells. Part of the iron pool also occurs in the muscles, where it is part of myoglobin - a protein that stores and carries oxygen inside the cell. It is also worth noting here that vitamin B6 also participates in the process of blood cell formation. [1,2]
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The structure of hemoglobin - oxygen transporter
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Hemoglobin - a red blood pigment - is a complex protein. It consists of two chemical groups. The first is a prosthetic protein group called heme. The hem is coupled with a second chemical group, which is the divalent iron atom and the simple protein globin. There are four heme iron per 1 molecule of hemoglobin. And these individual iron atoms chemically bonded to the heme have the ability to attract oxygen in the alveoli. Each of these atoms can attach one molecule of oxygen and continue to transport it through the bloodstream to the tissues and target cells! [5]
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The mechanism of oxygen binding
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In the lungs, hemoglobin combines with oxygen and takes the form of oxyhemoglobin (oxy - means oxidized). Then we have to deal with oxidized blood, or arterial blood. However, the hemoglobin with the 4 hemias mentioned above, each of which is able to attach one oxygen atom to one iron atom - does not have to be fully oxygenated. An example of partial oxygenation is the attachment of an oxygen particle to only one of four heme particles. This state of oxygenation of hemoglobin is defined as the state of T (from taut - strained). Fully oxygenated state - i.e. the attachment of oxygen to 4 hems is referred to as the R-state (relaxed-relaxed). The more hemoglobin is more oxygenated, the more it has greater ease of oxygen binding.It can be said that any attachment of an oxygen molecule to the hemoglobin in the lungs - makes it easier to attach the next! Conversely - detachment of each oxygen particle in the tissues - facilitates the release of the next. The transport of oxygen bound in oxyhemoglobin through the aforementioned heme iron takes place without changing the oxidation state of the iron atom. [6]
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Iron and hemoglobin determine oxygenation of cells and expulsion of carbon dioxide
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Oxygen associated with iron is transported through the bloodstream to all of the body's metabolizing cells. Inside the cells - in the so-called Cellular breathing processes are followed by the disconnection of oxygen and its "burning" to form carbon dioxide with the release of energy. After donating oxygen - hemoglobin has an invaluable ability for the body to attach unnecessary and harmful in excess of carbon dioxide and transport it back to the lungs via the blood. CO2 binds to its proteins to form specific transport compounds - the so-called carbamates. Since the binding of hemoglobin to carbon dioxide, we deal with deoxygenated venous blood. This blood is transported through the veins to the lungs. Here it is re-oxygenated and enters the next cycle of oxygen circulation in the body.
The consumption of iron and the oxygen cycle depends on the number of red blood cells
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As we already know, red blood cells play a fundamental role in the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide through the blood, thanks to the dye contained in them - hemoglobin. Hemoglobin binds oxygen to form an oxidized form, so-called oxyhaemoglobin. Oxygen-bound hemoglobin is always present in the so-called arterial blood, and has a characteristic bright red color, unlike the brown-red color of venous blood filled with carbon dioxide. The average hemoglobin content in the blood is about 16g in 100 ml in a man and about 14g per 100 ml in a woman. Thus, a man weighing 80 kg has about 1000 g (1 kg) of hemoglobin in his blood, which fills the transport arm with about 35 trillions of red blood cells. Because 120 days can be taken for the period of the red blood cell's life, about 7.5 g of hemoglobin is broken down every day and it must be re-created. "Drained" red blood cells are destroyed mainly in the spleen.
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Iron consumption for oxygen transport and other metabolic processes
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The physiological loss of iron is highly diverse. It depends on age, sex, participation of intense physical work or sport in life and ranges from 1 to 30 mg a day. Consumption increases the most with intensive growth in children, high physical strain, pregnancy and breastfeeding in women, abundant menstruation, etc.
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How much iron do we need?
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The body should be three to five grams of iron. On average, per 1 kg of the body weight of an adult human is from 40 (in women) to 50 (in men) iron mg. This seemingly small amount of iron stimulates the hematopoietic activity of the bone marrow, which produces the abovementioned incredibly large column of carriers "oxygen - about 35 trillion erythrocytes - red blood cells!
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Iron deficiency means anemia and anemia
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Iron deficiency prevents the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow. Therefore, iron deficiency can cause specific anemia - called anemia due to iron deficiency. This anemia, albeit with low intensity, is quite common, because even a varied diet can provide too little so-called. easily absorbed iron. Not enough red blood cells - it is a deficiency of hemoglobin and at the same time oxygen in the blood. The lack of oxygen in the blood limits it to the cells and disturbs the processes supplying the body with energy. And that means so-called anemia. Anemia is a condition in which due to the lack of iron and the resulting energy deficit, the efficiency of the whole organism is disturbed. Iron is not only a carrier of oxygen but also a component of numerous enzymes involved in cellular respiration and other important metabolic processes.
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Literature
1. Small encyclopedia of medicine PWN 1999.
2. BIOPARTICATES, OR MICRO AND MACRO ELEMENTS; prof. dr hab. med. Andrzej Danysz wyd, LEKI.
3. VITAMINS, MINERAL INGREDIENTS, NUMBER E, U.Unger-Gobel, ed. MUZA SA, 1997
4. Harper's biochemistry - PZWL 2004.
5. http: portalwiedzy.onet. ,,, hemoglobin - based on the WIEM Encyclopedia developed by based on the Popular Encyclopedia of Fogra Universal Publishing http: www.fogra.com.pl
6. http: en.wikipedia.orgwikiHemoglobina
7. Blood, blood, life, Zofia Kuratowska - Universal Knowledge 1981
