Question

Reduction in pH of blood will:

• A. Reduce the rate of heart beat.
• B. Reduce the blood supply to the brain.
• C. Decrease the affinity of hemoglobin with oxygen.
• D. Release bicarbonate ions by the liver.

Answer 1

The correct option is C Decrease the affinity of hemoglobin with oxygen.

A lower pH of the blood increases carbon dioxide concentration which in turn, is suggestive of more utilisation of oxygen. According to Bohr, lower pH will cause haemoglobin to deliver more oxygen. This manifests as a rightward shift in the Oxygen-Hemoglobin Dissociation Curve described in oxygen transport and yields enhanced unloading of oxygen by haemoglobin.