Hypoxia

Abstract

A great many cellular and physiological effects of hypoxia exist and a great difference exists in the hypoxic tolerance among species. For example, both the crucian carp (related to the goldfish) and some freshwater turtles can tolerate anoxia for extended periods of time, and they have evolved different mechanisms for this tolerance. Getting oxygen from the environment into the cells requires multiple coordinated steps of both diffusion and convection. The step of getting oxygen into the blood is, in many ways, quantitatively the most important. This chapter will concentrate on the changes in pulmonary ventilation that result from hypoxic exposure, and the development of quantitative models to describe this response.