Plasma Oxygen Permeability May be a Factor in Atherosclerosis

Abstract

Plasma oxygen permeability measures how easily oxygen dissolves in and diffuses through blood plasma. There has long been evidence that artery wall hypoxia plays a role in atherogenesis. This paper reviews the influence that plasma oxygen permeability has on artery wall oxygenation and presents experimental evidence for a relationship between plasma oxygen permeability and clinically significant obstructive coronary artery disease. Thirty-eight inpatients referred for diagnostic cardiac catheterization were scored for active coronary artery disease, and their plasma oxygen permeabilities were measured. There was a statistically significant (p = 0.04) correlation between active coronary artery disease and plasma oxygen permeability. There were also statistically significant differences in mean plasma oxygen permeability both between patients who did and did not have actively progressing coronary artery disease (p = 0.01) and between patients who did and did not have clinically significant obstructive coronary artery disease, whether it was actively progressing or not (p = 0.02). These findings suggest that a decline in plasma oxygen permeability may be one of the many factors associated with progression of atherosclerosis and that substances which increase oxygen permeability might offer a useful adjunct to current therapeutic measures. J Atheroscler Thromb, 2004; 11: 49-55.

Numerical study of oxygen transport in a carotid bifurcation

“…Oxygen in the blood flow is carried as free oxygen dissolved in plasma and is bound to hemoglobin within red cells. The effects of oxygen bound to hemoglobin on the oxygen tension in the blood flow were neglected in this study because the effect of the resistance to the oxygen transport in blood is secondary in the blood-wall coupling of oxygen transport Ethier 1997, Heppner andMorgan 2004).…”