Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 54, Issue 1 99-104, Copyright © 1983 by American Physiological Society
Effect of increased blood oxygen affinity on skeletal muscle surface oxygen pressure fields
E. Nylander, N. Lund and B. Wranne
A chronic left displacement of the blood O2 dissociation curve (ODC) was
achieved in rats by administering cyanate over a period of 14 days. Control
rats received NaCl. An acute left displacement of the ODC was achieved by
exchange transfusion with bisulfite-treated erythrocytes. Control rats for
this series received an exchange transfusion with fresh heparinized blood.
In both series, skeletal muscle surface O2 pressure fields (expressed as
PO2 histograms) were measured with the rats anesthetized, curarized, and
artificially ventilated. The animals with chronically left-shifted ODC had
normal PO2 histograms (for definition see DISCUSSION) when breathing air;
during hypoxia (FIO2 0.12) four of the eight experimental and three of the
seven control animals developed abnormal histograms, and all animals had
normal histograms on return to air breathing. The majority, but not all, of
the animals that were to receive exchange transfusions of left-shifted ODC
blood had normal histograms before the transfusion, which caused some to
become abnormal and others to become normal. Similar results were obtained
in the control animals that received normal blood. The results do not
provide evidence for an adverse effect of a left-shifted ODC on muscle
tissue oxygenation.
