Abstract
While conducting experiments to determine the rate of elimination of nitrogen from the body, in which the subject, either dog or human, breathed oxygen (99.5%) at atmospheric pressure; it was noted that the velocity of coagulation of the blood was greatly accelerated. During these experiments we have found it almost impossible to draw blood samples with a syringe without the use of an anticoagulant when the subject has been breathing oxygen.
In experiments where the femoral artery and vein of anesthetized dogs were exposed so that blood samples could be drawn at definite intervals, severe hemorrhage from injury to the artery occasionally occurred. When the animal was breathing room air it was necessary to clamp off the artery to stop bleeding. However, if the animal had been breathing oxygen for 15 minutes or longer the vessel repaired itself by external clotting and no clamping was necessary.
Further studies on the control of hemorrhage by breathing oxygen are in progress.
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