Basic Principles of Tissue Oxygen Determination from Mitochondrial Signals

Abstract

The importance of measuring intracellular oxygen concentrations in tissues has, over the years, emerged as a basic parameter in the physiology and biochemistry of living tissues. The credibility of oxyhemoglobin determinations, even as refined A/V differences, is taxed especially in cases where inhomogeneous tissues with variable oxygen demands and oxygen supply are served. The formation of lactic acid in the venous blood is often used as a criterion of anoxia, but it also lacks credibility where inhomogeneous circulatory pathways are served and in addition, is questionable from the standpoint of whether the appearance of excess lactate is an unequivocal criterion of oxygen insufficiency. To indicate my empathy with polarographic techniques as they have been developed at the Johnson Foundation, I wish to recall the pioneering works of Bronk(1) Brink (2), Davies and Remond (3) that stand as landmarks in the exploration of tissue oxygen tension by microelectrode methods. I served my apprenticeship with them.