Oxygen Absorption Through Skin. Effect Upon the Vascular Reaction to Stasis and to Histamine

Abstract

The cyanosis which develops in an arm with the circulation totally or partially occluded, may fail to appear when the part is surrounded by an atmosphere of oxygen. The skin of the forearm is usually maintained free of cyanosis under these conditions, while the fingers especially and the hand are quite refractory. This investigation, suggested by the work of Shaw and his coworkers, 1 is quite consistent with their finding that oxygen is absorbed by the skin. However, contrary to the interpretation which they place upon their work, we must conclude that, under the conditions of our experiments, the oxygen finds its way into the blood of those vessels which give color to the skin.

The reactive hyperemia, which invariably appears upon the release of a circulatory occlusion of an arm in air or nitrogen, is absent in an arm which has been in an atmosphere of oxygen during the period of circulatory arrest, except in those parts which were cyanosed or “dusky” before the release, i. e., the fingers and hand. The oxygen, therefore, would seem to prevent the dilatation of the skin vessels which prevails in an arm with arrested circulation.

The failure to obtain a reactive hyperemia under these conditions was examined in the light of the hypothesis of Lewis, 2 which ascribes the control of the small vessels of the skin to an “H” substance, a normal metabolite, the identity of which with histamine Lewis believes to be established by a wealth of convincing evidence.

The findings here recorded would seem to indicate that either histamine is not produced or it is destroyed under prevailing conditions. The idea as developed by Lewis precludes the first possibility, since if one assumes that dilatation of the small vessels of the skin under a variety of physiological conditions is due to the “H” substance, one must of necessity, as indeed Lewis does, postulate that the substance is a normal skin constituent, present in but small amounts normally, but piling up when the circulation is arrested.