How do avian embryos breathe? Oxygen transport in the blood of early chick embryos.

1. Chick embryos with primary circulation, up to about 3 days of development, show no hemoglobin-mediated transport of oxygen. 2. In embryos with secondary circulation, between 3 and 6 days of incubation, the vascular area acts as the respiratory organ. Its efficiency in the oxygen uptake is less than that of the chorioallantois of later embryos. On the contrary, oxygen release to the tissues is highly efficient. 3. A full efficient hematic uptake of oxygen is reached at about the 6th incubation day, when chorioallantois acts as the embryonic respiratory organ. 4. The different respiratory mechanisms of developing chick embryo are closely related to the functional properties of the various hemoglobins which are produced during the embryonic life.