Abstract
In previously published papers, a method was described for direct irradiation, with a special carbon arc, of circulating blood in etherized dogs; also some effects on blood pressure 1 and various blood constituents and properties. 2 , 3 , 4 Since no adequate explanation has been found for most of the results reported, it has seemed advisable to investigate the possibility of other changes occurring, under the experimental conditions described, which might add to our understanding of photobiological effects.
It is the purpose of this paper to report the results of an investigation of the effect on carbon dioxide combining power of the blood of dogs subjected to the same technic as those used in the other investigations. C. Kroetz 5 has reported that ultra-violet and Roentgen irradiation produce immediately a temporary acidosis, with reversal of the effect after a few hours. It has been generally observed that ether anesthesia decreases the CO2-combining power of the animal's blood. 6 , 7
It has also been noted that injection of medium doses of morphine, subsequent to complete ether anesthesia, will again increase this factor. 6 , 8 It does not fall within the province of this paper to discuss the underlying causes of these changes, but to report our results for the sake of a complete picture of the immediate changes resulting from this method of irradiation.
A series of control experiments was made, in each of which a sample of blood was drawn from the saphenous vein, after which the animal was quickly etherized and subjected to all the operative technic previously described but without radiation. Further samples were drawn at varying intervals and the total amount of CO2 in solution determined by the method of Van Slyke. 9
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