The drug acetazolamide is a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor. Which of the following do you think would be immediately affected when acetazolamide is administered to an animal?

About 70% of CO2 is transported from the tissues to the lungs as bicarbonates. Carbonic anhydrase in the RBC plays an important role in the formation of bicarbonates. When a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor (e.g., acetazolamide) is administered to an animal to block the action of carbonic anhydrase in the red blood cells, carbon dioxide transport from the tissues is affected so severely that the tissue pCO2 can rise to upto 80 mm Hg instead of the normal 45 mm Hg.