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Circulation. 1997;96:4385-4391

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(Circulation. 1997;96:4385-4391.)
© 1997 American Heart Association, Inc.


Articles

Aqueous Oxygen

A Highly O2-Supersaturated Infusate for Regional Correction of Hypoxemia and Production of Hyperoxemia

J. Richard Spears, MD; Bing Wang, MD; Xiaojun Wu, BS; Petar Prcevski, DVM; Alice J. Jiang, MD; Ali D. Spanta, MD; Richard J. Crilly, PhD; ; Giles J. Brereton, PhD

From the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Harper Hospital/Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, Lansing (G.J.B.), Mich.

Correspondence to J. Richard Spears, MD, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Louis M. Elliman Research Bldg, Room 1107, 421 E Canfield Rd, Detroit, MI 48201. E-mail spears{at}oncvx1.roc.wayne.edu


*    Abstract
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Background High levels of hyperoxemia may have utility in the treatment of regional tissue ischemia, but current methods for its implementation are impractical. A catheter-based method for infusion of O2, dissolved in a crystalloid solution at extremely high concentrations, ie, 1 to 3 mL O2/g (aqueous oxygen [AO]), into blood without bubble nucleation was recently developed for the potential hyperoxemic treatment of regional tissue ischemia.

Methods and Results To test the hypotheses that hypoxemia is correctable and that hyperoxemia can be produced locally by AO infusion, normal saline equilibrated with O2 at 3 MPa (30 bar; 1 mL O2/g) was delivered into arterial blood in two different animal models. In 15 New Zealand White rabbits with systemic hypoxemia, AO was infused into the midabdominal aorta at 1 g/min. Mean distal arterial PO2 increased to 236±113 and 593±114 mm Hg on 1-hour periods of air and O2 breathing, respectively, from a baseline of 70±10 mm Hg (P<.01). In contrast, infusion of ordinary normal saline in a control group (n=7) had no effect on arterial PO2. No differences between groups (P>.05) in temporal changes in blood counts and chemistries were identified. In 10 dogs, low coronary blood flow in the circumflex artery was delivered with a roller pump through the central channel of an occluding balloon catheter. Hypoxemic, normoxemic, and AO-induced hyperoxemic blood perfusates (mean PO2, 52±4, 111±22, and 504±72 mm Hg, respectively) were infused for 3-minute periods in a randomized sequence. Short-axis two-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated a significant decrease (P<.05) in left ventricular ejection fraction compared with baseline physiological values with low-flow hypoxemic and normoxemic perfusion but not with low-flow hyperoxemic perfusion.

Conclusions Intra-arterial AO infusion was effective in these models for regional correction of hypoxemia and production of hyperoxemia.


Key Words: oxygen • hypoxia • ischemia • catheterization


*    Introduction
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Oxygen administration by ventilation either may fail to correct arterial hypoxemia or may be limited by the potential for pulmonary toxicity at high inspired oxygen concentrations.1 This problem is more profound when regional tissue ischemia, associated with locally impaired blood flow, is superimposed on systemic hypoxemia. Currently, the only alternative means for introducing oxygen into blood requires its diffusion across an artificial gas-liquid interface. Mass transport of oxygen by diffusion is inherently slow, so that a relatively large surface area for contact of the two phases is required in both extracorporeal and recently developed intravascular oxygenators.2–4 Such devices are therefore inherently bulky, and prolonged contact with blood over a broad surface area may be associated with a variety of problems.5–14

We recently developed a bubbleless method for introducing oxygen, dissolved at partial pressures of 3 to 10 MPa (30 to 100 bar) in physiological crystalloid solutions, ie, aqueous oxygen (AO), at a rapid velocity through capillary tubes in vitro into host liquids at ambient pressure.15–18 The corresponding concentration of oxygen in AO is 1 to 3 mL O2/g, which is an order of magnitude greater than the O2 carrying capacity of blood. Rapid dilution of the AO effluent with the host liquid during rapid mixing of the two liquids results in efficient oxygenation of hypoxemic liquids, because diffusion at a gas/liquid interface is not required. In the present study, the hypotheses were tested that regional arterial hypoxemia is correctable and that hyperoxemia can be produced experimentally in vivo with an AO infusion.


*    Methods
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*Methods
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Animal Models
Protocols were approved by the Wayne State University School of Medicine Institutional Review Board before initiation of studies. All animals were housed and studied in a facility approved by the American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care. Humane care was provided to all animals in accordance with the "Principles of Laboratory Animal Care" formulated by the National Society for Medical Research and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals prepared by the National Academy of Sciences (NIH publication 85–23, revised 1985).

Systemic Hypoxemia in Rabbits
Twenty-two New Zealand White female rabbits weighing 3.4 to 3.6 kg were anesthetized with ketamine 35 mg/kg IM and xylazine 5 mg/kg IM, with additional quarter doses given intravenously as needed thereafter. All rabbits were allowed to breathe spontaneously throughout the course of the study. The distal end of a 2.5-m-long fused silica capillary tube with a 75-µm ID (365-µm OD, Polymicro Technology, Inc) was advanced antegrade to the midabdominal aorta from a carotid artery cutdown approach. A gold marker band at the distal end of the tube permitted its precise placement under fluoroscopic control (Precise Optics). A polyethylene catheter (PE 90) was advanced retrograde to the distal aorta from a femoral artery cutdown, and a similar catheter was advanced to the distal inferior vena cava from a femoral vein for withdrawal of blood samples. Heparin 100 U/kg was given intravenously immediately after placement of the catheters.

An infusion of normal saline at 1 g/min through the capillary tube was performed in all animals during an initial 1 hour of air breathing and a subsequent 1 hour of 100% oxygen breathing. The infusion was started at each of the two FIO2 levels after a constant arterial PO2 (<=5 mm Hg) over at least a 10-minute period was confirmed. The distal end of the catheter was withdrawn 2 to 3 cm proximally immediately before the infusion on oxygen breathing. Otherwise, an excessive rise in distal arterial blood PO2 occurred, on the order of 900 to 1400 mm Hg, which was noted in a prior pilot study to occasionally result in the formation of microbubbles. Systemic hypoxemia was present in most of the animals on air breathing, very likely as a result of a naturally occurring pneumonia (Pasteurella multocida).19 Once the infusion was initiated, arterial and venous blood samples were obtained at 10-minute intervals for blood gas analysis (model 1312, Instrumentation Laboratories). Unused portions of blood samples were returned intravenously. Additional blood samples were obtained before and after 1 and 2 hours of the onset of the infusion for analysis of complete blood counts and of a battery of chemistries. All analyses except blood gas measurements and lipid peroxide levels (femoral venous blood, K-Assay, Kamiya Biomedical Co) were performed by an independent clinical laboratory.

In a treatment group of rabbits (n=15), the saline infusate contained 1 mL O2/g. The remainder of the rabbits (n=7) received saline alone and served as a control group. Although aortography was not performed routinely, in view of the fluid volume challenge superimposed on the saline infusion, it was performed in two additional rabbits in the treatment group before the infusion and immediately before its termination. Quantitative image analysis of digitized video images (3/4-in Sony recorder) recorded at a 2:1 magnification at the output phosphor was used20 to measure the luminal diameter of the distal aorta. A vessel phantom of known diameter filled with contrast medium, included in the radiographic field at the same level as the aorta, was used for calibration of the magnification factor. On completion of each study, the abdominal aorta, external iliac arteries, common femoral arteries, and random samples of skeletal muscle perfused with saline or AO injectates were harvested and placed in 10% neutral buffered formalin. Alcohol-dehydrated, paraffin-embedded, hematoxylin-eosin–stained sections were examined by light microscopy.

Dog Low-Flow Coronary Artery Perfusion Model
Under pentobarbital and morphine sulfate anesthesia and after endotracheal intubation and placement of a volume-cycled respirator, cutdowns were performed in 10 adult mongrel dogs (weight, 21±6 kg) over the midline cervical and bilateral inguinal regions. Heparin 100 U/kg IV was given. An 8F guide catheter was advanced to the left coronary ostium from a carotid arteriotomy, and a 6F dual Millar catheter was advanced to the left ventricle from a femoral arteriotomy. The distal transducer was used to monitor left ventricular pressure and dP/dt, and the proximal one was used to monitor aortic root pressure. All pressures and a lead II ECG were continuously recorded on a physiological recorder (model 2107–8890, Gould, Inc) throughout each study. An 8F Swan-Ganz catheter (Criticon) was advanced from the internal jugular vein into the distal portion of the coronary sinus for blood gas analysis on samples obtained intermittently.

A 4F Swan-Ganz catheter (Arrow) was advanced through the guide catheter into the proximal circumflex artery in each dog. Inflation of the balloon with air was used to occlude the circumflex artery for 3-minute periods. Injection of 5 mL iohexol through the guide catheter was used to confirm fluoroscopically that flow through the circumflex artery was completely occluded and that the left mainstem artery was patent. After two initial balloon occlusion periods separated by a 5-minute interval, three more balloon occlusions were performed, with blood perfusion through the central channel of the Swan-Ganz catheter at a flow rate of 10 to 20 mL/min. Previous experience with this model demonstrated that resting circumflex coronary artery flow in similar-sized dogs is 35 to 40 mL/min, so that the flow rate chosen represented 30% to 50% of anticipated normal levels. For each dog, the flow rate was the same during infusion of blood at three different levels of arterial PO2. Randomized assignment to the different levels was used before initiation of blood perfusion. A roller pump (model 7401 blood pump, B-D Drake Willock) and Tygon tubing (ID 1/8 in) was used to withdraw blood from an external reservoir filled with autologous blood and to deliver it to the proximal end of the Swan-Ganz catheter. To obtain hypoxemic blood for the perfusion, venous and arterial blood were mixed in a 1:1 ratio. AO consisting of normal saline containing 1 mL O2/g was infused through a silica capillary tube (75 µm ID) at 1 g/min into arterial blood within the reservoir until a PO2 of {approx}500 mm Hg was achieved.

Immediately before and during the final 20 seconds of each balloon occlusion period, pressures and ECG were recorded at 25 mm/s, and two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic video recordings of the left ventricular short axis were obtained (model SZ-203-PA, 5-MHz probe, Aloka Co, Ltd). In our experience, this echocardiographic approach is superior to transesophageal ultrasound for examining posterior wall motion during circumflex occlusion–induced regional myocardial ischemia. From digitized end-diastolic (d) and end-systolic (s) video frames, relative areas (A) were determined automatically after manual delineation of the left ventricular endocardial border. Percent left ventricular ejection fraction (% LVEF) was determined as 100x[(Ad-As)/Ad].

On completion of each study, the heart was removed, the aortic root was flushed with saline, and after the myocardium was sectioned at 1-cm intervals from base to apex, the sections were placed in 10% neutral buffered formalin for processing for light microscopy as described above.

Preparation of AO
Normal saline (Baxter) was equilibrated with oxygen from a medical-grade oxygen cylinder (Air Products; nominal purity >=99.5%) at 3 MPa in a sterile 316 stainless steel 3.5-L reservoir at 22°C for at least 24 hours before use. The oxygenated saline was delivered to the 75-µm-ID silica capillary tube at a hydrostatic pressure (50 to 70 MPa) with a hydrostatic compressor (SC Hydraulics) that provided a flow rate of 1 g/min at a velocity of {approx}4 m/s though the tube. Collection of undiluted AO effluents at 3 MPa, in a manner that allowed its decomposition under conditions that approximate standard temperature and pressure, demonstrated an oxygen concentration of 1 mL O2/g, which is the same as that observed in previous in vitro studies at this partial pressure.18 Immediately before AO infusion through the silica tube into blood, each tube was flushed for several minutes with ordinary normal saline at 70 MPa from a hydraulic compressor operated in parallel to ensure the remove of surface gas nuclei. The hydraulic compressor was used to deliver normal saline alone in the control group of rabbits.

Data Analysis
ANOVA was used for prespecified comparisons, including blood gas values, blood counts, and plasma chemistries between groups and over time in the rabbit study and echocardiographic left ventricular dimensions, hemodynamic parameters, and ECG J-point elevation (referenced to the preceding TP segment) between levels of perfusion (normal flow; no perfusion; and either hypoxemic, normoxemic, or hyperoxemic perfusion) in the dog study. Before comparisons of blood counts and laboratory values, a correction derived from the change in hematocrit over time was applied for hemodilution produced by the saline infusion in both the control and treatment groups. A two-tailed, unpaired Student's t test was used to compare means between groups and between time periods of normally distributed data, when ANOVA resulted in a significant F test. A value of P<.05, after application of a Bonferroni correction, was considered statistically significant. Values are expressed as mean±SD.


*    Results
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Effect of AO Infusion in Hypoxemic Rabbits
On room air breathing, arterial and venous PO2 in distal blood samples increased during infusion of the aqueous O2 solution to a level similar to that achieved with 100% O2 breathing in the control group (Fig 1Down). Arterial hypoxemia, which was severe in many of the rabbits (PO2 <=60 mm Hg in 3 and <=80 mm Hg in 13 of the 15 rabbits), was corrected locally by the infusion in all such animals (PO2 range, 106 to 445 mm Hg). On 100% O2 breathing, an increase in the mean arterial PO2 to 593±114 mm Hg from a baseline value of 330±109 mm Hg was observed. In the treatment group, the mean venous PO2 increased from 37±6 mm Hg before the infusion to 48±5 mm Hg during the infusion on air breathing and from a baseline of 51±8 to 69±11 mm Hg during the infusion on oxygen breathing. No significant change in the arterial or venous PO2 occurred over time in the control group on either air breathing (mean arterial and venous PO2, 71±6 and 39±5 mm Hg, respectively) or oxygen breathing (mean arterial and venous PO2, 319±95 and 55±7 mm Hg, respectively). All differences in mean arterial and venous PO2 values during AO infusion, compared with control group values and baseline values, were significant at P<=.01.



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Figure 1. Blood gas values during intra-aortic infusion of normal saline, 1 g/min, containing 1 mL O2/g (O2-NS; PO2=3 MPa) in rabbits. Hatched bars indicate control group receiving normal saline; open bars, baseline of treatment group before infusion of O2-NS; solid bars, treatment group during infusion of O2-NS (mean of samples at 10-minute intervals). Error bars indicate SD. A, Mean distal aortic PO2; B, mean venous PO2 (distal inferior vena cava); C, mean venous PCO2.

On the basis of the indicator dilution principle, intra-aortic blood flow during AO infusion at a known rate of O2 delivery was estimated from the distal arterial PO2, hemoglobin level, and O2 solubility in blood. The ratio of infusate to blood flow was found to vary between 0.01 and 0.02 in the treatment group.

There were no significant changes in either PCO2 or pH during infusion of the aqueous O2 solution compared with baseline or control group values (P>.05). Compared with the control group, there were no significant differences in changes in any laboratory test other than PO2 (TableDown). Angiographic luminal diameter measurements of the distal aorta by computer image processing differed by <4% during AO infusion periods, compared with air and oxygen breathing periods without the infusion, in the two rabbits studied. No histopathological changes were noted by light microscopy in formalin-fixed, hematoxylin-eosin–stained tissues perfused with AO.


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Table 1. Blood Counts and Plasma Chemistries During Either Aqueous Oxygen or Normal Saline Infusion

Effect of AO Infusion on Low-Flow Coronary Ischemia in Dogs
The mean PO2 values of hypoxemic, normoxemic, and hyperoxemic perfusates were 52±4, 111±22, and 504±72 mm Hg, respectively. Mean values of left ventricular systolic and diastolic areas by two-dimensional echocardiography were significantly smaller (by 27.1% and 13.4%, respectively) and % LVEF was significantly greater (by 31.0%) during hyperoxemic low coronary flow compared with hypoxemic low flow (P<.05). In contrast, the mean improvements in systolic (15.5%) and diastolic (6.3%) areas and in % LVEF (16.2%) associated with normoxemic low flow, compared with hypoxemic low flow, were not statistically significant (P>.05).

Compared with mean baseline values of LVEF obtained immediately before each low-flow perfusion period, mean LVEF associated with both hypoxemic and normoxemic low flow was significantly depressed (P<.05, Fig 2Down). In contrast, mean LVEF during hyperoxemic low flow was not significantly different from mean baseline values (P>.05).



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Figure 2. Percent decrease in two-dimensional echocardiographic left ventricular ejection fraction (% EF), short-axis view, associated with low-flow coronary perfusion, compared with mean baseline values associated with physiological flow. Values are mean±SD (n=10 for each type of perfusion). Mean decrease in % EF during AO-induced hyperoxemic low flow was significantly less than that during hypoxemic low-flow perfusion (P<.05). *P<.05 vs mean baseline values. In contrast, the small decrease in % EF during hyperoxemic low flow was not significantly different from that associated with baseline physiological flow (P>.05).

Mean coronary sinus PO2 values during hyperoxemic perfusion (28.8±8.5 mm Hg) were nearly the same as the mean value of baseline flow periods immediately before balloon occlusion and before active perfusion periods (29.0±7.1 mm Hg) and slightly higher than the mean values observed during normoxemic (25.8± 7.2 mm Hg) and hypoxemic perfusion (26.3±7.8 mm Hg), but these differences did not achieve statistical significance.

Although trends in improvement in hemodynamic parameters and ECG lead II J-point change from baseline were noted with increasing PO2 levels, these changes also were not statistically significant.

No histopathological changes were noted by light microscopy in hematoxylin-eosin–stained sections of the left ventricle in any of the animals.


*    Discussion
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*Discussion
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Oxygen administration is a common adjunctive measure in the treatment of patients with acute ischemia of a major organ. However, systemic hypoxemia may not be correctable by a ventilatory route of administration in many patients with respiratory insufficiency. In addition, attempts to correct systemic hypoxemia or to induce arterial hyperoxemia with high levels of inspired oxygen tensions may result in pulmonary oxygen toxicity.1 As a result, for example, the duration of hyperbaric oxygen exposure, typically 2.0 to 2.5 bar, is usually limited to 90 min/d. Additional common problems with hyperbaric chambers include limited patient access, decompression periods required, middle ear barotrauma, and high cost. Alternatively, regional catheter-based arterial perfusion of hyperoxemic blood at PO2 <=1 bar could be performed with a conventional oxygenator used in an extracorporeal circuit to treat local tissue ischemia. Potential activation of coagulation cascade components and induction of inflammatory cell reactions5–14 very likely have been deterrents to a clinical application with such an approach. The relatively large priming volume required for preparation of a conventional oxygenator, as well as the need for specialized personnel for its operation, may also have hindered the development of its use for regional hyperoxemic perfusion.

Oxygen is only sparingly soluble in water. At a PO2 of 1 bar, the oxygen content of water is {approx}0.03 mL O2/g.21 Bubble formation is ordinarily prominent when the dissolved gas partial pressure greatly exceeds hydrostatic pressure. However, under static conditions, several groups have noted the absence of nucleation, on release of hydrostatic pressure to atmospheric, in water equilibrated with a variety of gases at extremely high partial pressures,22–27 including oxygen at <=140 bar.25 Stabilization of heterogeneous (solid/liquid interface) gas nuclei by high hydrostatic compression very likely contributed to these observations. Ordinarily, cavitation thresholds are diminished by ejection of liquids at high velocity.29 We found that stabilization of surface nuclei near the exit port by the application of high hydrostatic pressure and the use of capillary tubes of suitably small dimensions permit ejection of water, equilibrated with oxygen at a PO2 as high as 140 bar, into aqueous liquids at ambient pressure without bubble nucleation.15–18 An inverse relationship was noted between capillary tube diameter and the maximum threshold of metastability of the effluent. Predictions of a newly developed heterogeneous nucleation model of ours18 correlated well with empirical observations, including the effect of temperature on nucleation thresholds. An important conclusion of the model is that small ratios of volume to surface area of liquid-confining spaces, such as within the capillary tubes used to deliver gas-supersaturated solutions, retard the formation of active surface nuclei. The high tensile strength of water confined within small spaces, as noted by others in widely disparate scientific disciplines,22–32 is explicable for the first time by the model.

The results of the present work support the hypothesis that an AO infusion can be used either to correct hypoxemia or to produce hyperoxemia on a regional basis. In the rabbit study, the mean arterial and venous oxygen tensions that were achieved during AO infusion on room air breathing are similar to those noted with oxygen breathing without the infusion. The mean arterial and venous oxygen tensions achieved during AO infusion on oxygen breathing approach values anticipated under hyperbaric conditions.

Although hemoglobin is essentially fully saturated at a PO2 of 100 mm Hg, the oxygen content of blood is nevertheless increased by {approx}2 vol % when the PO2 is increased to 600 mm Hg from normoxemic levels as a result of increased dissolution of the gas.33 The oxygen delivery rate should thereby be increased accordingly. As shown in the experimental coronary model, hyperoxemic low flow at this PO2 was unassociated with a significant decrease in LVEF compared with that associated with baseline physiological flow, in contrast to the effects of low-flow normoxemic and hypoxemic flow. The lack of a significant change in coronary sinus PO2 with different levels of oxygen in the perfusate suggests that oxygen extraction may have increased with higher arterial oxygen levels. Our results are consistent with those of Cason et al,34 who demonstrated that hyperoxemic flow (mean PO2=511±70 mm Hg), compared with normoxemic flow at the same low rate in a porcine coronary artery model, is associated with improved left ventricular systolic shortening, increased endocardial blood flow, and a reduction in lactate production. The same group has also shown that hyperoxemia exerts a similar increase in left ventricular systolic shortening compared with normoxemia in a porcine model of myocardial stunning.35

Experimental evidence suggests that hyperoxemia may also be beneficial for the treatment of reperfusion injury of the myocardium.36–38 Although oxygen-derived free radicals are generated on normoxemic reperfusion,39 the efficacy of free radical scavengers and antioxidants in reducing infarct size is controversial.40 An increase in capillary density was noted experimentally with the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy during reperfusion in striated muscle,41 and Zamboni et al42 demonstrated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy during the first 1 to 2 hours of reperfusion of the rat gracilis muscle after 4 hours of ischemia inhibited neutrophil adherence to postcapillary venules. Recently, it was shown that hyperbaric oxygen impairs cGMP synthesis by activated neutrophils, so that B2 integrin–dependent adherence is inhibited.43 Rather than increasing oxygen free radical production, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been shown to enhance a biochemical pathway for quenching lipid peroxide radicals.44

In tests of hypotheses related to the utility of hyperoxemia in the treatment of ischemic syndromes, infusion of AO to control regional arterial oxygen tension may offer a number of advantages over the use of cumbersome and expensive hyperbaric oxygen chambers. For example, hyperbaric oxygen exposures are typically limited to 90 min/d because of the risk of pulmonary oxygen toxicity. Although oxygen toxicity thresholds (duration times level) of tissues perfused with hyperoxemic blood from a regional AO infusion require study, pulmonary oxygen toxicity is not a limiting factor, and intermittent treatment should be simple to implement. In addition, the effect of hyperoxemic perfusion of a target tissue can now be studied independently of superimposed peripheral hemodynamic effects of systemic hyperoxemia produced by hyperbaric oxygen exposure. For example, the oxygen cost of contractility is increased in left ventricular dysfunction45 and stunning46; whether an increase in local oxygen delivery would be associated with an increase in oxygen extraction and improvement in function could be addressed with a regional AO infusion.

The maximum level of hyperoxemia that is achievable with an AO infusion, below the threshold for microbubble formation, has not been defined. As noted previously, arterial PO2 of {approx}2 bar have been achieved in a prior pilot study, but microbubble formation occurred in some animals in an unpredictable manner. Lower levels of hyperoxemia were therefore used in the present work to identify potential adverse effects of the infusion without superimposed problems that microbubbles would present. Harvey et al47 noted that the tensile strength (threshold for cavitation) of blood decompressed under static conditions is high, on the order of 37 bar. Lee et al48 also demonstrated high thresholds for bubble nucleation in static, air-supersaturated blood experimentally on decompression to atmospheric pressure. However, it is likely that under dynamic, flowing conditions, the cavitation threshold in blood is much lower than these values.29 Experience with decompression sickness in humans provides only indirect information regarding cavitation thresholds in blood, because the source of bubble emboli in gas-supersaturated tissues is ambiguous and includes ruptured alveoli and perivascular tissues, such as connective tissue under simultaneous mechanical tension.47 In vitro, microbubble formation occurred during AO infusion in dog anoxic blood during rapid mixing at a mean PO2 of 830 mm Hg.18 This value is similar to that observed for the bubble nucleation threshold associated with an infusion of a dilute hydrogen peroxide solution into blood.49 The primary reason that the latter approach was abandoned clinically was the unavoidable formation of methemoglobin.50 In the present study, in contrast, no change in methemoglobin levels was noted after 2 hours of AO infusion.

Study Limitations
Our primary goal in this study was to assess the feasibility of the use of an AO infusion to correct hypoxemia and to produce hyperoxemia. Although no adverse effects were noted, additional studies will be required to ensure that more subtle adverse effects on blood elements, plasma chemistries, and perfused tissues are not produced by the infusion. In addition, the rate and level of dilution of AO, as well as flow patterns of both blood and the AO effluent, that permit effective oxygenation without microbubble formation will require further study. It is likely that to precisely control an AO infusion in a future clinical setting, continuous monitoring of the infusate/blood mixture with an oxygen sensor and a microbubble detector will be required. Finally, although pulmonary oxygen toxicity is not a consideration with this new approach, the oxygen tolerance of perfused normal and postischemic tissues as a function of both the level of hyperoxemia and duration of exposure will require study.

Conclusions
The results of our studies support the hypotheses that correction of arterial hypoxemia and production of hyperoxemia on a regional basis are achievable with an AO infusion. Specific hypotheses regarding the effects of hyperoxemia on ischemic tissue function and metabolism can now be addressed with this catheter-based approach without concern for pulmonary oxygen toxicity.


*    Acknowledgments
 
This study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (HL-56436) and from TherOx, Inc.

Received July 13, 1997; revision received September 3, 1997; accepted September 6, 1997.


*    References
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up arrowAbstract
up arrowIntroduction
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up arrowResults
up arrowDiscussion
*References
 
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