Submitted on July 31, 2008
Revised on December 29, 2008
Accepted on January 13, 2009
Perfluorocarbon Emulsions as a Promising Technology: A Review of Tissue and Vascular Gas Dynamics
Bruce D. Spiess1*
1 Virginia Commonwealth University
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bdspiess{at}vcu.edu.
Perfluorocarbon (PFC) emulsions are halogen substituted carbon non-polar oils with resultant enhanced dissolved respiratory gas (O2, N2, CO2, NO) capabilities. In the first demonstration of enhanced O2 solubility, inhaled PFC could sustain rats' metabolism. Intravenous emulsions were then trialed as "blood substitutes". In the last 10 years, biocomputational modeling has enhanced our mechanistic understanding of PFCs. Contemporary research is now taking advantage of these physiologic discoveries and applying PFCs as "oxygen therapeutics" as well as ways to enhance other gas movements. One particularly promising area of research is the treatment of gas embolism (arterial and venous emboli/decompression sickness). An expansive understanding or PFC enhanced diffusive gas movements through tissue and vasculature may have analogous applications for O2 or other respiratory gases and should provide a revolution in medicine. This review will stress the fundamental knowledge we now have regarding how respiratory gas movements are changed when intravenous PFC is present.
