What happens when red blood cells carrying co die?
When a person gets carbon-monoxide poisoning, co attaches to the red blood cells, and they are not able to release them. So what happen in the 120 days or so when the red blood cell dies? Is the co filtered and then excreted, or does it get recirculated into the blood stream after the dead cells are removed? This question is, of course, considering that the victim is only lightly affected, and only a few red blood cells are afflicted.
The CO virtually irreversibly binds secondary to its very strong affinity for hemoglobin. The red blood cell will eventually be broken down like other blood cells. The carbon monoxide combines with other substances to make carboxylic acids, some goes into CO2. Basically various mechanisms which are complicated gradually remove it from the body.
Feed Me – Blood Red