The Effects of Too Much Carbon Dioxide in the Blood. Excess CO2 can affect you just like a physical obstruction to breathing. Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a gas that's always present in your blood. It is the waste product generated as your body uses up oxygen, and it is expelled from the lungs when you exhale.
Many neuropsychological conditions such as anxiety and depression are directly related to the imbalance of neurotransmitters. Common neurotransmitters include acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin etc.
Immaturity of the blood-brain barrier probably plays a role in kernicterus. Infusion of bilirubin in experimental animals, after opening of the barrier by injecting hypertonic solutions, causes bilirubin staining. Bilirubin encephalopathy affects parts of the brain that are also involved in perinatal HIE. According to one school of thought, kernicterus is simply due to leakage of bilirubin in areas where the blood-brain barrier has been damaged by HIE. Babies with bilirubin encephalopathy are lethargic, hypotonic or hypertonic, and have a high pitched cry, opisthotonus, seizures, and may die if bilirubin is not lowered.