Cellular PO2 as a determinant of maximal mitochondrial O(2) consumption in trained human skeletal muscle. (17/953)

Previously, by measuring myoglobin-associated PO(2) (P(Mb)O(2)) during maximal exercise, we have demonstrated that 1) intracellular PO(2) is 10-fold less than calculated mean capillary PO(2) and 2) intracellular PO(2) and maximum O(2) uptake (VO(2 max)) fall proportionately in hypoxia. To further elucidate this relationship, five trained subjects performed maximum knee-extensor exercise under conditions of normoxia (21% O(2)), hypoxia (12% O(2)), and hyperoxia (100% O(2)) in balanced order. Quadriceps O(2) uptake (VO(2)) was calculated from arterial and venous blood O(2) concentrations and thermodilution blood flow measurements. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to determine myoglobin desaturation, and an O(2) half-saturation pressure of 3.2 Torr was used to calculate P(Mb)O(2) from saturation. Skeletal muscle VO(2 max) at 12, 21, and 100% O(2) was 0.86 +/- 0.1, 1.08 +/- 0.2, and 1.28 +/- 0.2 ml. min(-1). ml(-1), respectively. The 100% O(2) values approached twice that previously reported in human skeletal muscle. P(Mb)O(2) values were 2.3 +/- 0.5, 3.0 +/- 0.7, and 4.1 +/- 0.7 Torr while the subjects breathed 12, 21, and 100% O(2), respectively. From 12 to 21% O(2), VO(2) and P(Mb)O(2) were again proportionately related. However, 100% O(2) increased VO(2 max) relatively less than P(Mb)O(2), suggesting an approach to maximal mitochondrial capacity with 100% O(2). These data 1) again demonstrate very low cytoplasmic PO(2) at VO(2 max), 2) are consistent with supply limitation of VO(2 max) of trained skeletal muscle, even in hyperoxia, and 3) reveal a disproportionate increase in intracellular PO(2) in hyperoxia, which may be interpreted as evidence that, in trained skeletal muscle, very high mitochondrial metabolic limits to muscle VO(2) are being approached.  (+info)

Intraretinal oxygen distribution in the rat with graded systemic hyperoxia and hypercapnia. (18/953)

PURPOSE: To describe the nature of oxygen level changes in specific layers in the rat retina under graded levels of systemic hyperoxia, with and without hypercapnia. METHODS: Oxygen-sensitive microelectrodes were used to measure oxygen tension as a function of depth through the retina of anesthetized, mechanically ventilated rats. Breathing mixtures were manipulated to produce stepwise increments in systemic oxygen levels, with or without 5% CO2. Retinal arteriovenous oxygen differences were also measured as an indicator of oxygen delivery through the retinal circulation. Systemic blood gas levels were measured under each condition. RESULTS: Hyperoxia increases PO2 throughout the retina to a varying extent in different retinal layers, with the increase more pronounced in the outer retina than in the inner retina. Simultaneous hypercapnia results in further increases in retinal oxygen levels. The lowest intraretinal oxygen level was consistently found in the inner plexiform layer (IPL), between the two capillary layers that support this region. There was a greater than fourfold increase in oxygen supply from the choroid with hyperoxia but, remarkably, the retinal circulation continued to provide a net delivery of oxygen to the retina. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperoxia results in a significant but nonuniform increase in oxygen level in all layers of the rat retina, which is augmented by hypercapnia. The persistence of a minimum oxygen level in the IPL, despite the dramatic increase in oxygen flux from the choroid, suggests that oxygen consumption increases significantly in the IPL under hyperoxic conditions.  (+info)

The role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the pathogenesis of aspiration pneumonitis in rats. (19/953)

BACKGROUND: Aspiration pneumonitis is characterized by proteinaceous pulmonary edema and acute infiltration of neutrophils into the alveolar space. This study examined the role of the proinflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), on the pathogenesis of the injury produced by the different components that may be present in the aspirate, acid, or gastric particles. METHODS: Rats were injured by intratracheal instillation of a vehicle containing acid or gastric particles. TNF-alpha concentration of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was determined using a bioassay. upregulation of lung TNF-alpha mRNA was also measured. The effect of intratracheal anti-rat TNF-alpha treatment was assessed by lung protein permeability, blood gases, and lung myeloperoxidase activity. RESULTS: Injury vehicle alone and acid injury resulted in a small TNF-alpha peak 1-2 h after injury in the lavage fluid. Both particulate and acidic particulate groups produced a much more robust TNF-alpha signal that reached a plateau at 2-4 h after injury and declined at 8 h. Upregulation of TNF-alpha mRNA was only detected in the particulate-containing groups. Acidic particulate exposure yielded a synergistic increase in protein permeability and decrease in blood oxygenation. Anti-TNF-alpha treatment reduced protein permeability and myeloperoxidase activity and increased blood oxygenation in the groups exposed to only acid. Such treatment had no effect on either of the particulate containing injuries. CONCLUSIONS: TNF-alpha is differentially manifested according to the components that make up the aspirate but the levels of TNF-alpha expression do not correlate with the severity of the resultant injury. However, the reduction in acid-induced lung injury by anti-TNF-alpha treatment indicates that TNF-alpha plays a role in the pathogenesis of aspiration pneumonitis.  (+info)

Ventilatory instability during sleep onset in individuals with high peripheral chemosensitivity. (20/953)

Previous work has shown that the magnitude of state-related ventilatory fluctuations is amplified over the sleep-onset period and that this amplification is partly due to peripheral chemoreceptor activity, because it is reduced by hyperoxia (J. Dunai, M. Wilkinson, and J. Trinder. J. Appl. Physiol. 81: 2235-2243, 1996). These data also indicated considerable intersubject variability in the magnitude of amplification. A possible source of this variability is individual differences in peripheral chemoreceptor drive (PCD). We tested this hypothesis by measuring state-related ventilatory fluctuations throughout sleep onset under normoxic and hyperoxic conditions in subjects with high and low PCD. Results demonstrated that high-PCD subjects experienced significantly greater amplification of state-related ventilatory fluctuations than did low-PCD subjects. In addition, hyperoxia significantly reduced the amplification effect in high-PCD subjects but had little effect in low-PCD subjects. These results indicate that individuals with high PCD are likely to experience greater sleep-related ventilatory instability and suggest that peripheral chemoreceptor activity can contribute to sleep-disordered breathing.  (+info)

Light and choroidal PO2 modulation of intraretinal oxygen levels in an avascular retina. (21/953)

PURPOSE: To determine the influence that choroidal oxygen level and outer retinal oxygen demand have on oxygen availability to the inner retina when the choroid is the only source of retinal oxygenation. This condition prevails in avascular retinas and in vascularized retinas suffering vascular occlusion. METHODS: Oxygen-sensitive microelectrodes were used to measure the oxygen tension as a function of depth in the naturally avascular retina of anesthetized and mechanically ventilated guinea pigs (n = 6). Choroidal PO2 was manipulated by varying the ventilation gas mixture, and outer retinal oxygen consumption was modulated by light-dark adaptation. Individual PO2 profiles were fitted to a multilayer mathematical model of PO2 distribution, and pairs of profiles at different choroidal PO2 levels, or under light and dark conditions, were fitted to an intraretinal PO2 difference model. Both models reflect the purely choroidal supply of retinal oxygenation. RESULTS: An increase in choroidal PO2 produced an equivalent increase in all retinal layers. Light induced a decreased oxygen consumption in the region of the inner segments of the photoreceptors, which resulted in a significant increase in PO2 in this layer, flowing on unattenuated to all inner retinal layers. The intraretinal PO2 distribution and the light- and ventilatory-induced changes in PO2 were consistent with theoretical predictions of the mathematical models. CONCLUSIONS: The present experimental studies confirm that when the choroid is the only source of retinal oxygenation, the full effect of increased choroidal oxygen level or reduced uptake in the outer retina passes through to the inner retinal layers if the oxygen utilization by the inner retina remains constant.  (+info)

Regional differences in retinal vascular reactivity. (22/953)

PURPOSE: Although glaucomatous visual field defects are more common in the superior field than in the inferior field, microaneurysms are more frequent in the superior than in the inferior retina in diabetic retinopathy. The authors hypothesized that differences in vascular hemodynamics in the two areas might contribute to these phenomena. METHODS: The blood flow response to hyperoxia and hypercapnia was evaluated in peripapillary retinal tissue superior and inferior to the optic nerve head using confocal scanning laser Doppler flowmetry. In 14 young, healthy persons, blood flow was measured while breathing room air and during isocapnic hyperoxia (100% O2 breathing) and isoxic hypercapnia (PCO2 increased 15% above baseline). Histograms were generated from pixel-by-pixel analysis of retinal portions of superior and inferior temporal quadrants of the entire image. RESULTS: Baseline blood flow in the inferior temporal quadrant was significantly greater than in the superior temporal quadrant (P < 0.05). However, the inferior region failed to increase in perfusion during hypercapnia and experienced significant mean blood flow reduction; flow reduction in the pixels at the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile of flow; and an increased percentage of pixels without measurable flow, during hyperoxia (each P < 0.05). In contrast, in the superior temporal region, hyperoxia failed to reduce blood volume, velocity, or flow, whereas hypercapnia significantly increased mean flow; increased flow in the pixels at the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile of flow; and reduced the percentage of pixels without measurable flow (each P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The inferior temporal quadrant of the peripapillary retina is, in comparison with the superior temporas region, less responsive to vasodilation and more responsive to vasoconstriction. These differences could contribute to different susceptibility to visual field defect or vascular dysfunction in the superior and inferior retina.  (+info)

Oxygen uptake kinetics of older humans are slowed with age but are unaffected by hyperoxia. (23/953)

Cross-sectional studies have compared the oxygen uptake (VO2) kinetics during the on-transient of moderate intensity exercise in older and younger adults. The slower values in the older adults may have been due to an age-related reduction in the capacity for O2 transport or alternatively a reduced intramuscular oxidative capacity. We studied: (1) the effects of ageing on VO2 kinetics in older adults on two occasions 9 years apart, and (2) the effect of hyperoxia on VO2 kinetics at the second test time. After a 9 year period, follow-up testing was undertaken on seven older adults (78 +/- 5 years, mean +/- S.D.). They each performed six repeats of 6 min bouts of constant-load cycle exercise from loadless cycling to 80% of their ventilatory threshold. They breathed one of two gas mixtures (euoxia: inspired O2 fraction, FI,O2, 0.21; hyperoxia: FI,O2, 0.70) on different trials determined on a random basis. Breath-by-breath VO2 data were time aligned and ensemble averaged. VO2 kinetics, modelled with a single exponential from phase 2 onset (+20 s) to steady state and described by the exponential time constant (tau) were compared with data collected from the same adults 9 years earlier. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that tau was slowed significantly with age (from 30 +/- 8 to 46 +/- 10 s), but was unaffected by hyperoxia (43 +/- 15 s). We concluded that: (1) in older adults studied longitudinally over a 9 year period, the on-transient VO2 kinetics are slowed, in agreement with, but to a greater extent, than from cross-sectional data; and (2) the phase 2 time constant (tau) for these older adults was not accelerated by hyperoxic breathing. Thus the expected hyperoxia-induced increase in the capacity for O2 transport was not associated with faster on-transient VO2 kinetics suggesting either that O2 transport may not limit VO2 kinetics during the 8th decade, or that O2 transport was not improved with hyperoxia.  (+info)

Mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway mediates hyperoxia-induced apoptosis in cultured macrophage cells. (24/953)

We have previously demonstrated that the lungs of mice can exhibit increased programmed cell death or apoptosis after hyperoxic exposure in vivo. In this report, we show that hyperoxic exposure in vitro can also induce apoptosis in cultured murine macrophage cells (RAW 264.7) as assessed by DNA-laddering, terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase dUTP nick end-labeling, and nucleosomal assays. To further delineate the signaling pathway of hyperoxia-induced apoptosis in RAW 264.7 macrophages, we first show that hyperoxia can activate the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) p42/p44, in a time-dependent manner as assessed by increased phosphorylation of ERK1/ERK2 by Western blot analyses. Neither the c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase nor the p38 MAPK was activated by hyperoxia in these cells. Chemical or genetic inhibition of the ERK p42/p44 MAPK pathway by PD-98059, a selective inhibitor of MAPK kinase, and dominant negative mutants of ERK, respectively, attenuated hyperoxia-induced apoptosis as assessed by DNA laddering and nucleosomal ELISAs. Taken together, our data suggest that hyperoxia can induce apoptosis in cultured murine macrophages and that the MAPK pathway mediates hyperoxia-induced apoptosis.  (+info)