If a patient's erythrocyte 2,3-BPG (bisphosphoglycerate) concentration decreases significantly while arterial pO₂ remains constant, which consequence follows regarding oxygen unloading in peripheral tissues?

💡 Explanation

Decreased 2,3-BPG shifts the hemoglobin oxygen dissociation curve to the left, increasing hemoglobin's affinity for oxygen; because the Bohr effect shows that BPG promotes O₂ release, decreased BPG hinders oxygen unloading at the tissues. Therefore, unloading decreases substantially, rather than remaining the same or increasing, because of the altered hemoglobin affinity.

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