Fetal Haemoglobin

The Zero to Finals Medical Revision Podcast

Thomas Watchman

Life Sciences, Education, Medical Finals, Medicine, Surgery, Health & Fitness, Paediatrics, Medical Student, Medical Education, Medical Exams, Medical School, Medical Revision, Science, Learn Medicine, Finals Revision, Obstetrics And Gynaecology

4.8 • 678 Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2021

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode covers fetal haemoglobin. Written notes can be found at https://zerotofinals.com/paediatrics/haematology/fetalhaemoglobin/ or in the haematology section of the Zero to Finals paediatrics book. The audio in the episode was expertly edited by Harry Watchman.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to a new series of the zero to finals podcast on pediatric hematology.
0:10.0	My name is Tom and in this first episode I'm going to be talking to you about fetal hemoglobin.
0:15.3	And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic, you can follow along at zero tofinals.com
0:20.1	slash fetal hemoglobin or in the
0:23.3	hematology section of the zero de finals pediatrics book. So let's get straight into it. Hemoglobin is the
0:30.1	molecule responsible for transporting oxygen around the body. It's found in red blood cells.
0:37.3	Hemoglobin picks up oxygen in the lungs,
0:40.7	transports it through the blood and releases it in the tissues where it can be used.
0:46.4	In the fetus, hemoglobin is slightly different
0:49.1	because it needs to pick up oxygen in the placenta
0:51.9	and steal oxygen away from the mother's hemoglobin.
0:56.9	Hemoglobin is formed from four protein subunits.
1:01.8	These four subunits are arranged in pairs of subunits.
1:06.3	Fetal hemoglobin, which we'll call HBF, has two alpha and two gamma subunits.
1:14.9	Adult hemoglobin, which we'll call HBA, has two alpha and two beta subunits.
1:22.6	Let's talk in more detail about the differences between adult and fetal hemoglobin.
1:28.3	The structure of the fetal hemoglobin gives it a greater affinity to oxygen than adult hemoglobin.
1:36.3	Oxygen binds to fetal hemoglobin more easily and it's more reluctant to let go of the hemoglobin molecule.
1:43.3	This is important as fetal hemoglobin needs to steal oxygen away from the mother's hemoglobin
1:49.5	when they pass by each other in the placenta.
1:53.8	If the fetal and the maternal hemoglobin have the same affinity for oxygen, there will be no
1:58.7	incentive for the oxygen to switch from the maternal blood to the
	...

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