Mammals can breathe with their intestines
By Patience Asanga
With help from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and development, some scientists have been able to throw light on the age-long debate of whether mammals, like some aquatic organisms, can breathe through their intestines.
Some aquatic organisms like freshwater water catfish, loaches, and sea cucumbers use their lower intestines to breathe as a survival strategy in hypoxic (low oxygen supply) environments. The study headed by Takanori Takebe of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre/Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Yokohama City, Japan, reports that using enteral (intestinal) ventilation, some mammals like rodents and pigs can also respire with their intestines.
To prove the effectiveness of enteral ventilation in supplying oxygen throughout the body of rodents and pigs, Takanori and his team designed and delivered two kinds of ventilation: intra-rectal oxygen gas ventilation and liquid ventilation with oxygenated perfluorocarbon (PFC) to their rodent and pig models. At the end of the experiment, both procedures proved to be effective at improving oxygen circulation throughout the body and also mitigating respiratory failure.
However, intra-rectal oxygen gas ventilation, though with a 75% survival rate in an environment with inadequate oxygen compared to models in that same condition without the ventilation, is not clinically possible, especially in critically ill patients. But liquid-based enteral ventilation, which is clinically used to treat respiratory insufficiency, is a better option with minimal side effects as far as the current stage of research is concerned.
The success of this experiment was made possible by the nature of the rectum, which the researchers saw as suitable access to blood vessels that could encourage gaseous exchange.
The team believe that converting the intestine to a breathing organ in mammals using enteral ventilation, opens up a new window for helping patients who have severe respiratory failure due to pneumonia, bronchial asthma attack, airway stenosis, etc. However, the study is still in its preclinical stage and needs further evaluation to assess how safe it is for human use before it can be clinically applied.
Some aquatic organisms like freshwater water catfish, loaches, and sea cucumbers use their lower intestines to breathe as a survival strategy in hypoxic (low oxygen supply) environments. The study headed by Takanori Takebe of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre/Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Yokohama City, Japan, reports that using enteral (intestinal) ventilation, some mammals like rodents and pigs can also respire with their intestines.
To prove the effectiveness of enteral ventilation in supplying oxygen throughout the body of rodents and pigs, Takanori and his team designed and delivered two kinds of ventilation: intra-rectal oxygen gas ventilation and liquid ventilation with oxygenated perfluorocarbon (PFC) to their rodent and pig models. At the end of the experiment, both procedures proved to be effective at improving oxygen circulation throughout the body and also mitigating respiratory failure.
However, intra-rectal oxygen gas ventilation, though with a 75% survival rate in an environment with inadequate oxygen compared to models in that same condition without the ventilation, is not clinically possible, especially in critically ill patients. But liquid-based enteral ventilation, which is clinically used to treat respiratory insufficiency, is a better option with minimal side effects as far as the current stage of research is concerned.
The success of this experiment was made possible by the nature of the rectum, which the researchers saw as suitable access to blood vessels that could encourage gaseous exchange.
The team believe that converting the intestine to a breathing organ in mammals using enteral ventilation, opens up a new window for helping patients who have severe respiratory failure due to pneumonia, bronchial asthma attack, airway stenosis, etc. However, the study is still in its preclinical stage and needs further evaluation to assess how safe it is for human use before it can be clinically applied.
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