Final answer:
Carbon monoxide binding to hemoglobin greatly reduces the blood's ability to transport oxygen, leading to tissue hypoxia and symptoms like cherry red skin. It binds 200 times more strongly than oxygen, necessitating treatment with pure oxygen to displace it and restore normal oxygen transport.
Step-by-step explanation:
The functional effect of carbon monoxide binding to hemoglobin (Hb) is that it significantly reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.
Carbon monoxide has a 200 times greater affinity for hemoglobin than oxygen. This means that even small amounts of carbon monoxide in the air can result in the formation of carboxyhemoglobin, where carbon monoxide is bound to hemoglobin instead of oxygen.
This hinders the delivery of oxygen to the tissues, leading to tissue hypoxia.
The skin may appear cherry red due to the binding of carbon monoxide.
Treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning involves the administration of pure oxygen at high pressures to displace the carbon monoxide and form oxyhemoglobin, thus allowing proper oxygen transport to resume.