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Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 31, 173-177, Copyright © 1984 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

The Effect of Nitrous Oxide on the Oxyhaemoglobin Dissociation Curve

LOUIS FOURNIER MD FRCP(C)1 and DIANE MAJOR BSC1

1 Department of Anesthesiology, Laval University, Hospital Center, Quebec, Que.

Address correspondence to: Louis Fournier MD, Department of Anesthesiology, Laval University Hospital Center, 2705 blvd Laurier, Quebec, Que. G1V 4G2.

The influence of nitrous oxide on the oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve(ODC) was studied using blood from twenty healthy patients. When the blood samples were exposed to 50 per cent N2O during the determination of the ODC, a left shift was observed and the P50 was decreased by 1.06 kPa (8 mmHg). This shift cannot be explained by temperature, pH, PCO2, or 2,3-DPG effects. Following exposure of the blood to N2O-free gases, the shift disappeared rapidly, and a normal P5o (3.46 kPa) (26 mmHg) was reobtained. In keeping with this reversibility, blood samples taken before and during 45 minutes of N2O-curare anaesthesia showed identical dissociation curves to those which had been obtained during the in vitro N2O exposure experiment.

Key Words: BLOOD: oxyhemoglobin dissociation, P50 • ANAESTHETICS, GASES: nitrous Oxide






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Copyright © 1984 by the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society.