Mice, rats and pigs all use their intestines to breathe, and scientists discovered this by pumping oxygen up the animals' butts. This surfaced because the scientists were wondering whether there can be an alternate method to supply oxygen without the use of ventilators.
Takanori Takebe of the Tokyo University, wondered if people could absorb oxygen through their intestines, which happens in some freshwater fish. In mammals, the rectum is lined with a thin membrane that allows absorption of certain compounds into the bloodstream, and doctors already exploit this by giving some medicines as suppositories.
Takebe’s team tested the idea on pigs by giving them enemas of a type of fluid called a perfluorocarbon, which can hold high levels of oxygen. Such fluids have been investigated as a way of breathing liquid, and are already used to help protect the lungs of premature babies, so are likely to be non-toxic when used in this novel way, says Takebe.
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/articl...tum-so-humans-probably-can-too/#ixzz6vBNhseEW
Takanori Takebe of the Tokyo University, wondered if people could absorb oxygen through their intestines, which happens in some freshwater fish. In mammals, the rectum is lined with a thin membrane that allows absorption of certain compounds into the bloodstream, and doctors already exploit this by giving some medicines as suppositories.
Takebe’s team tested the idea on pigs by giving them enemas of a type of fluid called a perfluorocarbon, which can hold high levels of oxygen. Such fluids have been investigated as a way of breathing liquid, and are already used to help protect the lungs of premature babies, so are likely to be non-toxic when used in this novel way, says Takebe.
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/articl...tum-so-humans-probably-can-too/#ixzz6vBNhseEW
