oseph priestley, one of the three scientists credited with the discovery of oxygen, described the death of mice that were deprived of oxygen. However, he was also well aware of the toxicity of too much oxygen, stating, "For as a candle burns much faster in dephlogisticated [oxygen-enriched] than in common air, so we might live out too fast, and the animal powers be too soon exhausted in this pure kind of air. A moralist, at least, may say, that the air which nature has provided for us is as good as we deserve." 1In this review we examine the remarkable mechanisms by which different organs detect and respond to acute changes in oxygen tension. Specialized tissues that sense the local oxygen tension include glomus cells of the carotid body, neuroepithelial bodies in the lungs, chromaffin cells of the fetal adrenal medulla, and smooth-muscle cells of the resistance pulmonary arteries, fetoplacental arteries, systemic arteries, and the ductus arteriosus. Together, they constitute a specialized homeostatic oxygen-sensing system. Although all tissues are sensitive to severe hypoxia, these specialized tissues respond rapidly to moderate changes in oxygen tension within the physiologic range (roughly 40 to 100 mm Hg in an adult and 20 to 40 mm Hg in a fetus) (Fig. 1).In fetal life, the pulmonary vascular bed has a high resistance to blood flow. Consequently, oxygenated blood returning from the placenta is diverted from the unventilated lungs and across the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus. At birth, when air breathing begins, the lungs expand and oxygen levels rise. With reversal of fetal hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, the pulmonary vessels dilate and the ductus arteriosus constricts, thereby establishing the transition from the fetal to the neonatal circulation.After birth, hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction remains important, because it reduces perfusion of poorly ventilated areas of lung, and in so doing it decreases the shunting of desaturated, mixed venous blood to the systemic circulation. Inhibition of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction reduces the systemic arterial oxygen tension, particularly in small-airway disease. 2 Moreover, as was first demonstrated in humans in 1947, 3 the intensity of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction depends on the severity and duration of alveolar hypoxia. 4,5 The endothelium produces vasodilators, such as nitric oxide and prostacyclin, and vasoconstrictors, such as endothelin and thromboxane A 2 ; these molecules from endothelial cells modulate hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, but the ability of small pulmonary vessels to contract in response to hypoxia resides in their smooth-muscle cells. 6 Three sites in these cells are involved in the mechanism of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction: the membrane, the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and the contractile apparatus.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.