Abstract
Nitrous-oxide or ethylene in combination with oxygen were administered to dogs by the rebreathing technique developed by Dr. Ralph M. Waters, in which the carbon-dioxide produced by the body is removed by soda-lime. Nitrous-oxide with oxygen caused a slight reduction in the osmotic resistance of the red cells to hypotonic Simmel's fluids, which even after an hour's anesthesia, was not nearly as marked as that noted under ether or chloroform. Ethylene with oxygen had about the same effect on the erythrocyte fragility. When ethylene was pushed to asphyxiation after 20 minutes without oxygen, the osmotic resistance of the red cells was reduced to a considerable extent in the lower dilutions of the hypotonic Simmel's fluid (0.4%), but in the higher dilutions (0.7% and 0.6%) it was only slightly below the normal levels.
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