Oxygen dissociation in human erythrocytes: its response to hyperbaric environments

Hyperbaric nitrogen at a pressure of 100 atmospheres increases significantly the affinity of erythrocytic hemoglobin for oxygen. This results in oxygen dissociation curves which are shifted to lower than normal oxygen partial pressures. The pressure effect is completely reversible and can therefore be observed only during exposure of the blood cells to the hyperbaric gas.     

Erythrocyte metabolism: interaction with oxygen transport

Studies of the interactions between the metabolism and the function of the red cell have shown the importance of the red cell's metabolism in contributing to the maintenance of adequate oxygen delivery. Some of the phosphorylated intermediates of glycolysis, especially DPG, are now known to reduce the affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen. Current evidence indicates that this phenomenon is due to the effects of the binding of DPG to the , beta-chains of deoxyhemoglobin. It appears that increases in red cell concentrations of DPG commonly occur during hypoxia, and that these increases (as well as normal physiological variation) significantly enhance oxygen transport. Artificial manipulation of erythrocyte metabolism may soon prove to be of great clinical usefulness in the treatment of a great variety of disorders which limit oxygen transport.     

Hemoglobin in a nonleguminous plant, parasponia: possible genetic origin and function in nitrogen fixation

A dimeric hemoglobin was purified from nitrogen-fixing root nodules formed by association of Rhizobium with a nonleguminous plant, Parasponia. The oxygen dissociation rate constant is probably sufficiently high to allow Parasponia hemoglobin to function in a fashion similar to that of leghemoglobin, by oxygen buffering and transport during symbiotic nitrogen fixation. The identification of hemoglobin in a nonlegume raises important questions about the evolution of plant hemoglobin genes.     

Regulation of erythrocyte cation and water content in sickle cell anemia

The pathophysiological events in sickle cell disease are critically dependent on the intracellular concentration of hemoglobin S, which varies inversely with cell cation and water content. Erythrocytes of SS homozygotes exposed to oxygen or carbon monoxide decrease their potassium and water content through a pathway for potassium transport that is activated by both cell swelling and decrease in internal pH. This pathway is not inhibited by ouabain either with or without bumetanide. When SS erythrocytes were separated according to density, the pH- and volume-dependent potassium transport was greatest in the least dense fraction and was reduced in the densest cells. This pathway, which does not depend on polymerization of sickle hemoglobin, may be important in regulating the cation and water content of SS erythrocytes.     

Oscillatory mass transport in vapor-liquid-solid growth of sapphire nanowires

In vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth, the liquid phase plays a pivotal role in mediating mass transport from the vapor source to the growth front of a nanowire. Such transport often takes place through the liquid phase. However, we observed by in situ transmission electron microscopy a different behavior for self-catalytic VLS growth of sapphire nanowires. The growth occurs in a layer-by-layer fashion and is accomplished by interfacial diffusion of oxygen through the ordered liquid aluminum atoms. Oscillatory growth and dissolution reactions at the top rim of the nanowires occur and supply the oxygen required to grow a new (0006) sapphire layer. A periodic modulation of the VLS triple-junction configuration accompanies these oscillatory reactions.     

Transport of oxygen through hemoglobin solutions

An expression is derived for the steady-state diffusion rate of oxygen through a solution or suspension of oxygen-carrying particles. Several special cases of interest are discussed and compared with the data of Hemmingsen and Scholander. Their observed dependence of the rate of specific oxygen transport on pressure and pH is consistent with the present expression.     

Thermal Vent Clam (Calyptogena magnifica) Hemoglobin

A heterodont bivalve mollusk Calyptogena magnifica, from the East Pacific Rise and the Galápagos Rift hydrothermal vent areas, contains abundant hemoglobin in circulating erythrocytes. No other known heterodont clam contains a circulating intracellular hemoglobin. The hemoglobin is tetrameric and has a relatively high oxygen affinity, which varies only slightly between 2 degrees and 10 degrees C. The presence of hemoglobin in the clam may facilitate the transport of oxygen to be used in chemoautotrophic hydrogen sulfide metabolism.     

Survival at extreme altitude: protective effect of increased hemoglobin-oxygen affinity

Decreased hemoglobin-oxygen affinity is thought to be of adaptive value to humans and nonindigenous animals at high altitude. To test this, hemoglobin-oxygen affinity was modified by carbamoylation of hemoglobin in rats. Exposure of control (low oxygen affinity) and experimental (high oxygen affinity) animals to a pressure equivalent to high altitude revealed that increased, rather than decreased, hemoglobin-oxygen affinity will permit survival at greatly reduced environmental oxygen pressures.     

内聚力-张力学说的新证据

虽然内聚力-张力学说已经建立了一个多世纪,但要完全接受它仍有一些问题,因为它的一个推论是很难证实的,即木质部导管中存在大的负压.特别是近年来木质部压力探针和Z型管试验的结果表明,引起空穴的木质部压力仅在-0.5 MPa以上. 有人根据这一结果认为必须对木质部水分运输的内聚力-张力学说加以修正. 但是,目前又有两个研究小组应用相似改良的Z型管方法测定了产生空穴的木质部压力. 他们的结果显示,不同树种木质部导管保持水分传导的压力范围在-1.2 MPa到-3.5 MPa以下. 这表明树木木质部导管中存在较大负压,从而有力支持了内聚力-张力学说.     

Rutherford backscattering to study the near-surface region of volatile liquids and solids

Here we describe the use of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) to measure quantitative in situ elemental profiles with high depth resolution, online and nondestructively, in volatile substances (liquid and frozen acids, ice). Samples for analysis are held in a chamber with controlled temperature and partial pressures designed to match conditions for aerosols in Earth's atmosphere. This technique is demonstrated in studies of water solubility in sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid (HCl) on ice surfaces, the formation of a HCl-hexahydrate surface layer on evaporating HCl-doped ice, and the diffusion of water through this layer.     

Synthesis and evaluation of a prototypal artificial red cell

A new process allows microencapsulation of purified human hemoglobin and 2,3-diphosphoglycerate to form neohemocytes. The microcapsule membrane is composed of phospholipids and cholesterol. Neohemocytes are substantially smaller than erythrocytes, contain 15.1 grams per decaliter of hemoglobin, and have a P50 value (the partial pressure of oxygen at which the hemoglobin is half-saturated) of 24.0 torr. All rats given 50-percent exchange transfusions survived with only limited evidence of reversible toxicity. Normal serum glutamate-pyruvate-transaminase values at 1, 7, and 30 days after transfusion were consistent with minimal hepatotoxicity. The concentration of blood urea-nitrogen was elevated by 35 percent after 1 day but returned to normal by day 7. However, histopathology revealed normal kidneys on day 1 as well as on days 7 and 30. Neohemocytes cleared from the circulation of transfused rats with an apparent half-life of 5.8 hours.     

Oxygen-mediated diffusion of oxygen vacancies on the TiO2(110) surface

Defects such as oxygen vacancies play a crucial role in the surface properties of transition metal oxides. By means of time-resolved, high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy, we unraveled an adsorbate-mediated diffusion mechanism of oxygen vacancies on rutile TiO2(110). Adsorbed oxygen molecules mediate vacancy diffusion through the loss of an oxygen atom to a vacancy and the sequential capture of an oxygen atom from a neighboring bridging oxygen row, leading to an anisotropic oxygen vacancy diffusion pathway perpendicular to the bridging oxygen rows.     

Mutants of Rhizobium japonicum with Increased Hydrogenase Activity

Some strains of Rhizobium japonicum can use hydrogen as an energy source for growth under microaerophilic conditions. Mutant strains have been selected that use hydrogen in the presence of high partial pressures of oxygen. The mutants contain more hydrogenase than the parent strain, both as free-living cells and as bacteroids in nitrogen-fixing soybean root nodules.     

光照和生长阶段对菖蒲根系泌氧的影响

以自然湖泊沉积物为研究基质,利用微型电机控制溶氧微电极实现纵向精确微位移,在照光与遮光条件下,对典型湿地植物菖蒲幼苗、成株根系根基部起总根长1/4处(根1/4)、根系中部(根1/2)、从根基部起总根长3/4处(根3/4)及根尖(根1)处根系微界面径向溶氧浓度变化进行原位精确测定.结果表明:无论有无光照,菖蒲幼苗、成株根系不同部位均存在从根表面至沉积物氧饱和度由高到低的氧扩散层,其厚度0.18-0.68 mm;根1/2、3/4、1处氧扩散能力菖蒲成株较幼苗显著增强(P＜0.01),根1/4处二者则无显著差异(P＞0.05);光照对菖蒲幼苗、成株根系不同部位氧扩散能力的影响存在差异,光照对菖蒲幼苗根1/2及菖蒲成株根1/2、根3/4处影响显著(照光组显著高于遮光组,P＜0.01),而对菖蒲幼苗根1/4、根3/4、根1及菖蒲成株根1/4、根1处无显著影响(P＞0.05);从根系泌氧空间差异上看,照光条件下菖蒲幼苗、成株分别表现为根1/2＞根3/4≈根1≈根1/4 (P＜0.01,P＞0.05)和根1/2＞根3/4＞根1＞根1/4( P＜0.01),遮光条件下菖蒲幼苗、成株分别表现为根1/2≈根3/4≈根1≈根1/4( P＞0.05)和根1/2＞根3/4≈根1＞根1/4( P＜0.01,P＞0.05).     

Use of taylor-aris dispersion for measurement of a solute diffusion coefficient in thin capillaries

A method for the fast measurement of the diffusion coefficients of both small and large molecules in thin capillaries is reported. The method relies on Taylor-Aris dispersion theory and uses standard instrumentation for capillary zone electrophoresis. With this equipment, which consists of thin capillaries (50 to 100 micrometers in inner diameter), an injection system, detector ports, and computer data acquisition, a sample plug is pumped through the capillary at known velocity and the peak dispersion coefficient (D(*)) is measured. With the experimentally measured values of D(*) and flow velocity, and knowledge of the inner diameter of the capillary, the molecular diffusion coefficient (D) can be rapidly derived. For example, for ovalbumin a D value of 0.759 x 10(-6) square centimeter per second is found versus a tabulated value of 0.776 x 10(-6) square centimeter per second (error, 2 percent). For hemoglobin a D value of 0.676 x 10(-6) square centimeter per second is obtained versus a literature value of 0.690 x 10(-6) square centimeter per second (error, 1.5 percent).     

Hemoglobin interaction: modification of solid phase composition in the sickling phenomenon

Direct analyses of solid phase formed by deoxygenating solutions of sickle-cell hemoglobin (Hb S) in the presence of certain other hemoglobin species show that hemoglobins A and C can participate in the filamentous fine structure characteristic of the sickling phenomenon. In contrast, fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) is nearly completely excluded.     

Regulation of the erythropoietin gene: evidence that the oxygen sensor is a heme protein

Erythropoietin (Epo), the hormone that stimulates red blood cell production, is synthesized in the kidney and liver in response to hypoxia. The human hepatoma cell line Hep3B regulates its production of Epo in a physiologic manner. Either hypoxia or cobalt chloride markedly increases expression of Epo mRNA as well as production of biologically active and immunologically distinct Epo protein. New protein synthesis is required before the induction of increased levels of hypoxia- or cobalt-induced Epo mRNA. Hypoxia, cobalt chloride, and nickel chloride appear to stimulate Epo production through a common pathway. The inhibition of Epo production at low partial pressures of oxygen by carbon monoxide provides evidence that a heme protein is integrally involved in the oxygen-sensing mechanism. This hypothesis is further supported by the finding that when heme synthesis is blocked, hypoxia-, cobalt-, and nickel-induced Epo production are all markedly inhibited. A model is proposed in which a ligand-dependent conformational change in a heme protein accounts for the mechanism by which hypoxia as well as cobalt and nickel stimulate the production of Epo.     

Extended Oxygen Delivery from the Nerve Hemoglobin of Tellina alternata (Bivalvia)

An oxygen-binding hemoglobin localized in the nerves of Tellina alternata (Bivalvia) required 30 minutes to unload oxygen when excised nerves were exposed to pure nitrogen. Neural excitability under these conditions could be sustained only until deoxygenation of the hemoglobin was complete. When the oxygen-combining function of the hemoglobin was abolished with carbon monoxide, the neural excitability ceased within a few minutes of oxygen removal, a response identical to that of hemoglobinless homologous nerves of other bivalves. These results demonstrate that aerobic activity can be supported by the oxygen stored on hemoglobin in microscopic tissues for a considerable time under anoxic conditions.     

Protonic diffusion in high-pressure ice VII

Near ambient pressures, molecular diffusion dominates protonic diffusion in ice. Theoretical studies have predicted that protonic diffusion will dominate at high pressures in ice. We measured the protonic diffusion coefficient for the highest temperature molecular phase of ice VII at 400 kelvin over its entire stable pressure region. The values ranged from 10(-17) to 10(-15) square meters per second at pressures of 10 to 63 gigapascals. The diffusion coefficients extrapolated to high temperatures close to the ice VII melting curve were less by a factor of 10(2) to 10(3) than a superionic criterion of approximately 10(-8) square meters per second, at which protons would diffuse freely.     

AZ31镁合金扩散焊接实验

根据原子扩散理论对AZ31镁合金进行了扩散连接工艺研究。在Gleeble-1500型热/力模拟试验机上,对AZ31镁合金进行了在不同连接工艺条件下的扩散连接,在电子万能试验机上对扩散连接接头进行了剪切强度试验,从而获得了AZ31镁合金的最佳扩散连接工艺参数。利用金相显微镜、扫描电镜(SEM)对扩散连接接头微观组织进行分析,得出了AZ31镁合金主要是通过原子扩散和晶粒长大造成的原始焊接表面晶界的移动,促使接头表面原子充分扩散,形成牢固的连接。