Cell oxygen supply

The rate of water flow is also most important. This determines the supply of oxygen to the rusting surface, and may remove corrosion products that would otherwise stifle further rusting. A plentiful oxygen supply to the cathodic areas will stimulate corrosion, but so may smaller supplies at a slow rate of flow, if this leads to the formation of differential aeration cells (see Section 1.6). 

The same applies to pathologically-disturbed function. A simulated reduction in coronary blood flow (heart attack) would lead to reduced oxygen supply to the cells in the virtual heart, which would reduce efficiency of cardiac contraction and possibly give rise to heart rhythm disturbances. Ventricular pressure development would be compromised, as would the blood supply to all organs of the body, including the heart. All these implications can be studied in a virtual heart. 

The air gas-diffusion electrode developed in this laboratory [5] is a double-layer tablet (thickness ca.1.5 mm), which separates the electrolyte in the cell from the surrounding air. The electrode comprises two layers a porous, from highly hydrophobic, electrically conductive gas layer (from the side of the air) and a catalytic layer (from the side of the electrolyte). The gas layer consists of a carbon-based hydrophobic material produced from acetylene black and PTFE by a special technology [6], The high porosity of the gas layer ensures effective oxygen supply into the reaction zone of the electrode simultaneously the leakage of the electrolyte through the electrode... 

The brain has an absolute dependence on the blood for its immediate supply of oxygen and energy substrates. Interruption of oxygen or substrate supply by compromise of pulmonary or cardiovascular function or metabolic factors results in encephalopathy and, if prolonged, neuronal cell death. The brain uses approximately 20% of the total oxygen supply of the body. While glucose remains the primary energy substrate for the brain, alternative substrates maybe used under certain circumstances (see Ch. 31). 

To illustrate the actual importance of dynamic properties for the functioning of metabolic networks, we briefly describe and summarize a recent computational study on a model of human erythrocytes [296]. Erythrocytes play a fundamental role in the oxygen supply of cells and have been subject to extensive experimental and theoretical research for decades. In particular, a variety of explicit mathematical models have been developed since the late 1970s [108, 111, 114, 123, 338 341], allowing us to test the reliability of the results in a straightforward way. 

As shown in Figure 1-1, the fuel cell combines hydrogen produced from the fuel and oxygen from the air to produce dc power, water, and heat. In cases where CO and CH4 are reacted in the cell to produce hydrogen, CO2 is also a product. These reactions must be carried out at a suitable temperature and pressure for fuel cell operation. A system must be built around the fuel cells to supply air and clean fuel, convert the power to a more usable form such as grid quality ac power, and remove the depleted reactants and heat that are produced by the reactions in the cells. 

In some cases, death due to disease is caused by necrosis. For example, failure of oxygen supply to some cardiomyo-cytes, after occlusion of an arteriole or artery, will decrease the ATP/ADP concentration ratio in these cells, which will... 

Necrosis of cells may be the cause of other conditions that may be less obvious and less severe than the heart attack, bnt can still be the cause of considerable damage and pain. These include frostbite, in which blood supply to part of the lower limbs (especially fingers and toes) is restricted by extreme cold (vasoconstriction) so that oxygen supply is not snfficient to maintain normal rate of ATP generation in the cells in the skin and, in severe cases, the... 

Ischaemic heart disease diminished oxygen supply in the myocardial tissue cells... 

Fig. 4. Primary liver cells are cultivated on the exterior surfaces of semipermeable capillary hollow fiber membranes. Medium is perfused through the extrafiber space. Through the fibers oxygen supply is supported...

The level of EPO production in the kidneys (or liver) is primarily regulated by the oxygen demand of the producer cells, relative to their oxygen supply. Under normal conditions, when the producer cells are supplied with adequate oxygen via the blood, EPO (or EPO mRNA) levels are barely detectable. However, the onset of hypoxia (a deficiency of oxygen in the tissues) results in a very rapid increase of EPO mRNA in producer cells. This is followed within 2 h by an increase in serum EPO levels. This process is prevented by inhibitors of RNA and protein synthesis, indicating that EPO is not stored in producer cells, but synthesized de novo when required. 

Maintenance of red cell volume is critical to having an adequate oxygen supply to the tissues [10]. Healthy individuals finely balance erythropoiesis and erythrocyte loss and maintain constant hematocrit. The glycoprotein hormone erythropoietin is the principal controller of the homeostatic mechanism that links tissue oxygen delivery to red cell production. While hypothesized as early as 1863, unequivocal evidence of erythropoietin was first published in 1953. A few years later, scientists showed that animals subjected to bilateral nephrectomy were unable to mount an erythropoietin response to hypoxia. Indeed, the kidneys produce about 90% of circulating erythropoietin. 

Fig. 8.20). This condition is called the bends. In serious cases, the bends can be fatal. The risk is reduced if helium is used instead of nitrogen to dilute the diver s oxygen supply, because helium is less soluble in plasma than nitrogen is. Moreover, because helium atoms are so small, they can pass more readily than nitrogen through cell walls without damaging them. 

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