Question

What is the role of iron in blood?
A.It helps to transport oxygen.
B.It helps transport nutrients.
C.It gives a red color to the blood.
D.All of the above.

Answer 1

Hint:The most common type of cell found in the blood is RBCs (red blood cells). In humans, as in all mammals, the mature RBC lacks a nucleus. This allows the cell to store more room for hemoglobin, and because of the protein hemoglobin, which contains a red-colored compound called heme, because of which human blood is red.

Complete step by step answer:Iron is an important element for producing blood. Approximately 70 percent of the iron in your body is stored in red blood cells called hemoglobin in your blood and myoglobin in your muscle cells. Hemoglobin, the material in red blood cells that brings oxygen from your lungs to transport it across your body, is an essential component of iron. Around two-thirds of the body's iron is present in hemoglobin. If you don't have enough iron, the body can't produce sufficient healthy red blood cells that hold oxygen.
So the correct answer is an option (A).

Additional Information:
Hemoglobin, or Hb, is a protein molecule that consists of four subunits present in red blood cells (erythrocytes): two alpha subunits and two beta subunits. A centralized heme group that includes iron and binds one oxygen molecule is surrounded by each subunit, enabling four oxygen molecules to bind each hemoglobin molecule. Molecules bound to the heme groups with more oxygen are lighter red. As a consequence, oxygenated arterial blood is bright red when the Hb carries four oxygen molecules, while venous blood that is deoxygenated is a darker red.

Note:While oxygen dissolves in the blood, it transports only a small amount of oxygen in this manner. Just 1.5 percent of blood oxygen is immediately dissolved into the blood itself. Most oxygen is bound to a protein called hemoglobin, 98.5 percent, and brought to the tissues.