Capillary blood flow and cutaneous uptake of oxygen from the atmosphere

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In 1 987 Baurngärtl, using needle electrodes to measure P02 in skin, demonstrated that a minimum P02 value could be observed between the surface and the capillary bed. This indicated that there is an 02 flux through the epidermis supplying the upper layers of the skin. The recent development of a fluorescence-based 02-fluxoptode for measuring oxygen flux has meant that the phenomenon could be studied directly. More recently Stucker et. al. showed, using simultaneous measurement of oxygen flux, transcutaneous P02 and laser Doppler perfusion, that the epidermal oxygen uptake from the atmosphere is in balance with the blood-borne (haematogenic) oxygen supply. These measurements of oxygen flux and previous measurements of P02 profiles indicated that capillary blood flow in skin at normal skin temperature may not contribute to the oxygen supply of the superficial layers. In order to investigate this further, in the present study the transcutaneous hydrogen clearance technique was applied at various skin temperatures between 33°C and 40°C. Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF), transcutaneous oxygen flux, and tsanscutaneous oxygen measurements were also carried at the same site. The inability to detect hydrogen at the skin surface at 33°C confirms the minimal contribution of capillary blood flow to the oxygen supply to superficial layers
Keywords

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: