Explain giving reasons “The presence of CO reduces the amount of haemoglobin available in the blood for carrying oxygen to the body cells.”
CO combines with haemoglobin (Hb) of the red blood corpuscles (RBCs) about 300 times more readily than oxygen to form carboxyhaemoglobin complex, as follows
Hb+ CO ------> HbCO
Thus, Hb is not able to combine with oxygen to form oxyhaemoglobin complex and hence, transport of oxygen to different body cells does not occur.