Red blood cell oxygen has been released the resulting deoxyhemoglobin is of a dark red burgundy color. However, blood can appear bluish when seen through the vessel wall and skin. Pulse oximetry takes advantage of the hemoglobin color change to directly measure the arterial blood oxygen saturation using colorimetric techniques. Hemoglobin also has a very high affinity for carbon monoxide, forming carboxyhemoglobin which is a very bright red in color. Flushed, confused patients with a saturation reading of 100% on pulse oximetry are sometimes found to be suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Having oxygen-carrying proteins inside specialized cells (as opposed to oxygen carriers
Oxygen–hemoglobin dissociation curve it influences intracellular pH due to formation of bicarbonate ion. Formation of carbaminohemoglobin stabilizes T state hemoglobin by formation of ion pairs. Only about 5–10% of the total CO content of blood is transported as carbamino compounds, whereas (80–90%) is transported as bicarbonate ions and a small amount is dissolved in the plasma.The formation of a bicarbonate ion will release a proton into the plasma, increasing acidity which also shifts the curve to the right as discussed above; low CO levels in the blood stream results in a high pH, and thus provides more optimal binding conditions for hemoglobin and