Oxygenation of Blood During Inhalation of a Liquid Medium. ∗

Abstract

Summary

Seven dogs were submerged in a hyperbaric chamber containing Ringer's solution equilibrated with oxygen at 8 atm. All animals were able to breathe the liquid for at least 8 minutes, and the 2 that survived maintained liquid-breathing for 1 hour. As long as the animals breathed the solution, their arterial O₂ concentration was adequate or above normal; however, CO₂ was gradually accumulating in the blood. Four of the dogs died in the chamber as a result of sudden apnea or of dyspnea and bronchiospasm followed by apnea. Histopathological examinations performed on those that died revealed hyperemia, vascular lesions, and neutrophilic infiltration in the lungs, but no atelectasis. Vascular lesions were also observed in the central nervous system; those in the medulla may have been responsible for the sudden apnea.