ENDOGENOUS CARBON MONOXIDE PRODUCTION IN MAN*

Abstract

Since the late 19th century, carbon (CO) has been known to be present in of normal man and animals. The origin in blood, however, has not been entirely Although it might be assumed that all CO is absorbed from the environment, thors have thought that some, at least, endogenously. The difficulties in de whether blood CO arises endogenously oi been the lack of knowledge of the vari govern CO uptake and loss from the uncertainty of the degree of exogenc sure to CO, and the lack of accurate ar CO analytical methods. In 1894, Grehant (1) found that nc blood contained a small amount of a cc gas and assumed it was CO. Nicloux (2 (3), Lepine and Boulud (4), and Jong later demonstrated small amounts of CO blood, but did not differentiate between