How is oxygen transported from the lungs to body tissues in humans?
Bound to haemoglobin in red blood cells
In the alveoli of the lungs, oxygen diffuses into the blood because its partial pressure is higher in the alveolar air than in the blood of the surrounding capillaries.
Red blood cells contain the iron-containing respiratory pigment haemoglobin, which has a high affinity for oxygen. Oxygen binds loosely to it to form oxyhaemoglobin, and nearly all the oxygen in blood (about 97%) travels in this bound form.
When this blood reaches the body tissues, where oxygen concentration is low, oxyhaemoglobin releases its oxygen, which diffuses into the cells for cellular respiration.
Oxygen dissolves poorly in plasma, so only a small fraction (about 3%) travels dissolved, never all of it. Free gas bubbles in the blood would block vessels (an embolism), and oxygen is not converted into carbon dioxide during transport; carbon dioxide is a separate waste product of respiration in the cells.
Hence, Bound to haemoglobin in red blood cells.
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