Is Oxygen Used for More Than Just Respiration in the Body?

[KF81]

Hiya..

I know we need Oxygen to remove Electrons from the end of the ATP Cycle in Mitochondria
but do we use Oxygen for anything else in the body ?

Cheers

 

[pinball1970]

Mass springs to mind, structural proteins sugars fats etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_the_human_body

 

[jim mcnamara]

If you mean just plain O₂, aerobic respiration is the major use. Elemental oxygen, nascent oxygen, and ozone tend to react with organic molecules in living things, so having them running around loose in cells is not helpful. For example: mammals move oxygen around to cells throughout the body safely bound to hemoglobin.

And there are species of bacteria and archaebacteria that are killed by the presence of atmospheric oxygen. They are termed anaerobic organisms, meaning living without air.

At the other end of the spectrum: physicians, for certain kinds of therapies, place patients hyperbaric chambers that have air with high oxygen content. Or provide breathable highly oxygenated air.

For short periods of time. And it is controversial in many applications
Examples:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5110132/
https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+5054 toxicity of various oxygen treatments.

So, patronizing an "oxygen bar" may be a bad idea. Despite all the glowing claims:
https://www.onhealth.com/content/1/oxygen_bars_-_is_a_breath_of_fresh_air_worth_it

However, all proteins, carbohydrates, and some lipids have oxygen as part of their basic building blocks. So all of us living things are made, in part, of oxygen.

 

[KF81]

Thanks for the answers. I found out earlier that in the making of proteins we have to use amino acids that have a -COOH group, but that oxygen comes from food we ingest, not from breathing.

 

[KF81]

If you mean just plain O2, aerobic respiration is the major use. Elemental oxygen, nascent oxygen, and ozone tend to react with organic molecules in living things, so having them running around loose in cells is not helpful. For example: mammals move oxygen around to cells throughout the body safely bound to hemoglobin.

Thanks.. Yes, i was wondering if the oxygen we breath gets used for anything else apart from cellular respiration.

So the answer is no but we do use oxygen broken down from food to help build proteins.

 

[BillTre]

do we use Oxygen for anything else in the body ?

Collagen, the most common protein in the body and an important structural component of animal bodies, requires oxygen for the post-translational (after the protein is generated on the ribosome) enzymic conversion of proline amino acids to hydroxyproline (required for mature collagen protein formation).

Some have proposed that increased oxygen levels were required for the evolution of larger metazoans (animals) in the Cambrian period.

Skeletons did not arise until the Cambrian Era when oxygen levels increased. This is because skeletons require collagen, which uses Vitamin C as a cofactor, which requires oxygen.

 

[Fra]

Hiya..
I know we need Oxygen to remove Electrons from the end of the ATP Cycle in Mitochondria
but do we use Oxygen for anything else in the body ?

Note sure about humans but a famous example known to brewers...

Brewing yeast (S.Cerevisae) is a facultative aerobe that can produce energy by either aerobic respiration or anaerobic fermentation. Yet, S.Cerevisae can only sustain anaerobic fermentative growth for around 3-4 generations (# of cell divisions), why?

The main reason is not that at all oxygen limts energy production, its that small amounts of oxygen is needed to synthesize critical compounds. (some old brewing myths says otherwise though, they claim its because aerobic respiration stalls, which is not true). This is the main reason why a certain AMOUNT of yeast needs to be pitched, to not leave residual sugars in the beverage. In the typical "growth media" used(ie wort or grape juce), yeast needs oxygen to make unsaturated fatty acids, and these are essential to the physiology of the cell membrane. Continous oxygenation would also spoil flavours. After 3-4 generations of growth without oxygen, the UFA:SFA ratio is to low that cell membrane functions can no longer be guaranteed so the cell stops growing and prepares for dormancy. I think in theory supplementing growth media with the right UFAs may get around this though.

/Fredrik

 

[NC_Seattle]

Bill Tre is correct, the enzyme that is responsible for modifying amino acids such that collagen can be formed uses molecular oxygen as its ultimate source.

There appears to be an entire class of these enzymes called dioxygenases that use molecular oxygen ultimately derived from the air and incorporate either one or both oxygen atoms into various molecules.

Also, after the molecular oxygen is converted into carbon dioxide via respiration some of that carbon dioxide is then captured and incorporated into various molecules as well. Here's one that involves Vitamin K.