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Information about Carboxyhemoglobin

Carboxyhemoglobin (British English: Carboxyhaemoglobin) (COHb) is a stable complex of carbon monoxide and hemoglobin that forms in red blood cells when carbon monoxide is inhaled, and hinders delivery of oxygen to the body. Tobacco smoking (through carbon monoxide inhalation) raises the blood levels of COHb.

In large quantities, the effect of COHb is death - known medically as carboxyhemoglobinemia or carbon monoxide poisoning. However in smaller quantities COHb leads to oxygen deprivation of the body causing tiredness, dizziness and unconsciousness.

Hemoglobin bonds to carbon monoxide preferentially (200:1 more so) compared to bonding to oxygen, so effectively, COHb will not release the carbon monoxide, and therefore hemoglobin will not be available to transport oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. However, animals, such as a human, should survive with very small amounts of COHb in their blood with very little or no observable effects.

COHb has a half-life in the blood of 4 to 6 hours. COHb increases risk of blood clot. It is thought that through this mechanism smoking increases the risk of having an ischemic stroke.

Pregnant smokers may give birth to babies of a lower birth mass as fetal hemoglobin takes up carbon monoxide more readily than in an adult, therefore the fetus of a smoker will suffer from mild hypoxia potentially retarding its development.

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See also

complex in chemistry usually is used to describe molecules or ensembles formed by the combination of ligands and metal ions. Originally, a complex implied a reversible association of molecules, atoms, or ions through weak chemical bonds.
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Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas. It is the product of the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing compounds, notably in internal-combustion engines.
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Hemoglobin, also spelled haemoglobin and abbreviated Hb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in the red blood cells of the blood in vertebrates and other animals.
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A blood cell (also called blood corpuscle) is any cell of any type normally found in blood. In mammals, these fall into three general categories:
  • Red blood cell, whose main purpose is the transport of oxygen;

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2, −1
(neutral oxide)
Electronegativity 3.44 (Pauling scale)
Ionization energies
(more) 1st: 1313.9 kJmol−1
2nd: 3388.3 kJmol−1
3rd: 5300.5 kJmol−1

Atomic radius 60 pm
Atomic radius (calc.
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Tobacco smoking is the act of burning the dried or cured leaves of the tobacco plant and inhaling the smoke for pleasure, for ritualistic or social purposes, self-medication, or simply to satisfy physical dependence.
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Carbon monoxide poisoning
Classification & external resources

Spacefilling model of Carbon monoxide.
ICD-10 T 58.
ICD-9 986

DiseasesDB 2020
MedlinePlus 002804
eMedicine emerg/817  

MeSH C21.613.455.
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thrombus, or blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. It is achieved via the aggregation of platelets that form a platelet plug, and the activation of the humoral coagulation system (i.e. clotting factors).
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Stroke
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 I 61. -I 64.
ICD-9 435 - 436

OMIM 601367
DiseasesDB 2247
MedlinePlus 000726pi
eMedicine neuro/9   emerg/558 emerg/557 pmr/187
MeSH D020521

Stroke (or
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Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. Created and updated by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), it is used by the MEDLINE/PubMed
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Carbon monoxide poisoning
Classification & external resources

Spacefilling model of Carbon monoxide.
ICD-10 T 58.
ICD-9 986

DiseasesDB 2020
MedlinePlus 002804
eMedicine emerg/817  

MeSH C21.613.455.
..... Click the link for more information.


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