Scientists Invent Oxygen Particle That If Injected, Allows You To Live Without Breathing

TechWrench ^ | August 23, 2012

[topher]

CO2 is carried on hemoglobin to the lungs... There are some CO2 dissolved in the blood, as well.

The reason Carbon Monoxide (CO) is that it prevents oxygen from binding to the hemoglobin.

Just as we have kidney dialysis machines, a machine could probably be developed to remove/scrub CO2 from the blood.

However, the mechanism that expels CO2 from the body is the key mechanism for balancing pH. I believe pH must be in the range of 7.35 to 7.45 (a very narrow range).

[a fool in paradise]

Democrats can now hold their breath without turning blue.

[CodeToad]

Wow! If true and practical this would be an amazing trauma protocol. Imagine someone needing a breathing tube which takes time but the first task is to inject this substance, buying time for the patient.

[CodeToad]

The problem is that O2 saturation can fall faster than CO2 absorption increases, so when seconds count O2 matters most.

[topher]

I imagine once they have this treatment in place, they might have some machine to scrub CO2 in an emergency room.

When I donate blood, they have the ability to just take platelets or just red blood cells.

So it might be possible to get a machine to remove CO2 from the blood like a dialysis machine does.

[P.O.E.]

If I recall, didn’t Vonnegut write about drinking Hydrogen peroxide - you get both oxygen & water.

[EternalVigilance]

I think I’ll stick with the old way.