Question

Carbon monoxide poisoning often has fatal results. When an individual is exposed to large amounts of carbon monoxide, it essentially prevents oxygen from being delivered to electron transport chains. Based on your understanding of the electron transport chain, what specific problems would this cause? Why would the individual ultimately die?

Answer 1

- Breathing CO can cause headache, dizziness, vomiting, and nausea. If CO levels are high enough, you may become unconscious or die. Exposure to moderate and high levels of CO over long periods of time has also been linked with increased risk of heart disease.
-Carbon monoxide (CO) toxicity is the result of a combination of tissue hypoxia and direct CO-mediated damage at a cellular level.
-Mitochondria, specially the electron transport chain, seem to be the target for CO at a subcellular level. However, the direct effect of CO in individual complexes of the human mitochondrial respiratory chain has not been completely elucidated.
-Carbon monoxide is toxic for mitochondria in man, altering the mitochondrial respiratory chain at the cytochrome c oxidase level. This inhibition in cytochrome c oxidase may play a role in the development of the symptoms observed in acute CO poisoning, and in some diseases related to smoking.
-The problem with carbon monoxide (CO) is that it inhibits your ability to distribute O2 (oxygen). Hemoglobin, a protein in your red blood cells, binds oxygen in your lungs, and distributes oxygen throughout your body. Hemoglobin has a very high affinity for oxygen. However, it has a HIGHER affinity for CO. The usual function of hemoglobin is to bind oxygen (O2) and take it to a place in the body that needs oxygen, and then releases the oxygen. When hemoglobin binds CO, it binds so tightly that it will not let go. Therefore, the hemoglobin that binds CO becomes 'poisoned' and can no longer bind oxygen, destroying its function. Then, parts of your body do not receive the essential oxygen, and effectively suffocate.

carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when carbon monoxide builds up in your bloodstream. When too much carbon monoxide is in the air, your body replaces the oxygen in your red blood cells with carbon monoxide This can lead to serious tissue damage, or even death .