The biological effects of gases at pressure

TL;DRAbstract

Less than one hundred years ago Paul Bert discovered that oxygen at raised pressures was injurious to a wide range of organisms and, in a number of experiments conducted over several years, he investigated this and other problems which form the basis for what has subsequently become high-pressure physiology. It seems however that the large amount of research which has been done in an attempt to understand the nature of oxygen poisoning has touted to confuse the original simple view of oxygen as a universal poison. A very large number of reactions which depend upon enzymes are adversely affected by raised pressures of oxygen, sufficient indeed to make it likely that the 'cause' of oxygen poisoning will not be found, in the sense that no single critical reaction will be identified as giving rise to any one of the various toxic manifestations. Instead the emphasis must be upon studying the way in which cellular metabolism is modified and finally disrupted by raised pressures of oxygen; an

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