A theoretical study of the influence of diffusion and chemical reaction velocity on the rate of exchange of carbon monoxide and oxygen between the red blood corpuscle and the surrounding fluid

In a paper on this subject published four years age, Hartridge and Roughton (1927) described some preliminary experiments upon the rate of uptake of oxygen and carbon monoxide by the red blood corpuscle, the observations being made by means of their reaction velocity technique (Hartridge and Roughton, 1922–1927). The general principles of the method were as follows. Through one lead of the apparatus a suspension of reduced corpuscles in saline was forces into the mixing chamber, whilst through the other lead was forced a solution of oxygen (or carbon monoxide) in saline. The two fluids mixed in the mixing chamber within 0·001 second or less and then travelled down the observation tube. Determination of the percentage of oxyhæmoglobin (or carboxyhæmoglobin) in the moving fluid at various cross sections of the observation tube was made by means of the reversion spectroscope, these measurements, together with a knowledge of the rate of flow of the fluid down the observation tube, giving the necessary data for plotting the rate of uptake of O 2 or CO by the corpuscles against time. The most interesting feature of the results was the much slower uptake of O 2 by hæmoglobin in the intact corpuscle as compared with the of O 2 by hæmoglobin in laked solution as previously recorded by Hartridge and Roughton (1925). In the corpuscle experiments the time scale had to be expressed in hundredths of a second instead of in thousandths of a second as in the hæmoglobin solution experiments ( vide fig. 2 of Hartridge and Roghton, 1927). Confirmatory results by somewhat different technique have been obtained lately by Dirken and Mook (1931). These will be referred to again later.


Equations are developed for the rate of penetration of a substance into (or egress from) the zone included between two coaxial cylinders. In the most general case the penetrating substance is assumed to engage in diffusion, a chemical reaction of the first order and a zero-order reaction (e. g. metabolism). The rate of elimination of nitrogen from the tissues into the blood capillaries is considered as an example of diffusion alone, without any accompanying chemical reactions. Application of the simplified equations to this case strongly supports the view that the rate of elimination of nitrogen from the body when breathing oxygen is not conditioned by diffusion factors, but depends only on the volume of the various systems of the body and the rate of blood flow through them. The rate of passage of carbon monoxide from the blood to the myoglobin of red mammalian muscles is next considered as an example of diffusion accompanied by a first-order chemical reaction velocity. Calculations for resting and active muscles indicate that in the latter case certainly, and in the former case probably, the rate of up take of carbon monoxide by the red muscles should be fast enough to affect appreciably the measurement of blood volume by the carbon monoxide method. Millikan’s experiments on the rates of change of oxymyglobin concentration in the resting soleus muscle of the cat are used as an example of the most general case, in which diffusion and chemical reactions, both of first order and zero order, are all involved. The application of the equations of this paper to his data are shown to lead to reasonable conclusions as to the number of open blood capillaries in the resting soleus muscle. Similar equations, with examples, are also developed for the case of a cylinder suspended in an infinite medium and for a sphere suspended in an infinite medium.


Equations are developed for the rate of penetration of a substance into (or egress from) the zone included between two coaxial cylinders. In the most general case the penetrating substance is assumed to engage in diffusion, a chemical reaction of the first order and a zero-order reaction (e.g. metabolism). The rate of elimination of nitrogen from the tissues into the blood capillaries is considered as an example of diffusion alone, without any accompanying chemical reactions. Application of the simplified equations to this case strongly supports the view that the rate of elimination of nitrogen from the body when breathing oxygen is not conditioned by diffusion factors, but depends only on the volume of the various systems of the body and the rate of blood flow through them. The rate of passage of carbon monoxide from the blood to the myoglobin of red mammalian muscles is next considered as an example of diffusion accompanied by a first-order chemical reaction velocity. Calculations for resting and active muscles indicate that in the latter case certainly, and in the former case probably, the rate of uptake of carbon monoxide by the red muscles should be fast enough to affect appreciably the measurement of blood volume by the carbon monoxide method. Millikan's experiments on the rates of change of oxymyoglobin concentration in the resting soleus muscle of the cat are used as an example of the most general case, in which diffusion and chemical reactions, both of first order and zero order, are all involved. The application of the equations of this paper to his data are shown to lead to reasonable conclusions as to the number of open blood capillaries in the resting soleus muscle. Similar equations, with examples, are also developed for the case of a cylinder suspended in an infinite medium and for a sphere suspended in an infinite medium.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (7) ◽  
pp. 2903-2911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takao Furuki ◽  
Fumio Hosokawa ◽  
Minoru Sakurai ◽  
Yoshio Inoue ◽  
Riichiro Chujo

2017 ◽  
Vol 488-489 ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
Pierre Mignon ◽  
Abdul-Rahman Allouche ◽  
Marie-Christine Bacchus-Montabonel

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