The elimination of carbon monoxide from rat blood was studied from a starting point of a nonsteady-state concentration of 40% for carboxyhemoglobin (COHb). The accuracy of the fit was statistically improved by the employment of a two-exponential elimination model rather than that of the one-exponential model. Yet, the differences in the COHb estimates attained with the two models were negligible. Therefore, for practical purposes, the one-exponential model seems reasonably reliable for estimating COHb.

Key terms blood; carbon monoxide; carboxyhemoglobin; elimination model; one-exponential elimination model; rat; two-exponential elimination model