This issue's recently published papers commentary takes a long hard look at the surprisingly topically issue of oxygen. To give a balanced perspective, topical ventilatory studies are also discussed.
Confused by oxygen?Several recently published papers have demonstrated both the pros and cons of oxygen therapy. They also serve to illustrate that extrapolating from studies with experimental animal models to the clinical arena requires great caution.In a rat model of haemorrhagic shock, Brod and colleagues investigated the effects of combined resuscitation with hypertonic saline and oxygen [1]. The authors designed a complex protocol with sequential single interventions and compared 5 ml/kg fluid resuscitation using 0.9% and 7.5% saline and a fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO 2 ) of 0.21 and 1.0. They measured regional perfusion in several vascular beds together with plasma lactate as a measure of the adequacy of resuscitation. Their results showed that 7.5% saline and 100% oxygen was the superior strategy. Of particular note were the marked haemodynamic effects of increasing the FiO 2 to 1.0. The accompanying editorial [2] considers these results in a wider clinical context. It rightly concludes that the effects of 100% oxygen on regional blood flow, and hence its role in resuscitation, have for too long been neglected and warrant further investigation.Multiple organ failure syndrome (MOFS) is the final common pathway of critical illness. Imperatore and colleagues have previously demonstrated that intermittent hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy is effective in attenuating this process in a zymosan-induced MOFS model in rats. They have now published a further study concentrating on the effects of HBO on the coagulation cascade [3]. The zymosan insult produced a marked coagulopathy, MOFS and a 50% mortality at 72 hours in the control group. The intervention group, which was subjected to two 60-minute periods of hyperbaric (2 atmospheres absolute (ATA) oxygen (FiO 2 1.0) at 4 and 11 hours after MOFS initiation, demonstrated a markedly attenuated coagulopathy with less severe MOFS and a 100% survival at 72 hours.In a related study, Buras and colleagues investigated the efficacy of four oxygen regimens in a caecal ligation-andpuncture model of MOFS in mice [4]. In addition to survival, they measured bacterial load and performed experiments on macrophage function, specifically investigating whether IL-10 has a key role in the protective effect of HBO therapy. In comparison with the control group, which received an FiO 2 of 0.21, normobaric FiO 2 of 1.0 for 90 minutes at 12-hourly intervals and HBO at 2.5 ATA for 90 minutes at 24-hourly intervals had no effect on survival at 100 hours (mortality 80%). HBO at 2.5 ATA for 90 minutes at 12-hourly intervals improved survival from 20% to 70%. HBO at 3 ATA for 90 minutes at 12-hourly intervals proved be 100% lethal after approximately 30 hours. The successful strategy did not reduce the bacterial load in the peritoneum but did reduce the load disseminated to the spleen, s...