Nitrogen gas exchange in the human knee

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986 · J. Appl. Physiol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7085546

Weathersby, P K; Meyer, P; Flynn, E T; Homer, L D; Survanshi, S

Human decompression sickness is presumed to result from excess inert gas in the body when ambient pressure is reduced. Although the most common symptom is pain in the skeletal joints, no direct study of nitrogen exchange in this region has been undertaken. For this study, nitrogen tagged with radioactive 13N was prepared in a linear accelerator. Nine human subjects rebreathed this gas from a closed circuit for 30 min, then completed a 40- to 100-min washout period breathing room air. The isotope 13N was monitored continuously in the subject's knee during the entire period using positron detectors. After correction for isotope decay (half-life = 9.96 min), the concentration in most knees continued to rise for at least 30 min into the washout period. Various causes of this unexpected result are discussed, the most likely of which is an extensive redistribution of gas within avascular knee tissues.

• Research Organization: Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, MD
• OSTI ID: 7085546
• Journal Information: J. Appl. Physiol.; (United States), Vol. 4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BONE JOINTS
PRESSURE EFFECTS
NITROGEN 13
TISSUE DISTRIBUTION
INHALATION
MAN
ANIMALS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BODY
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
INTAKE
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MAMMALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NITROGEN ISOTOPES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANS
PRIMATES
RADIOISOTOPES
SKELETON
VERTEBRATES
551001* - Physiological Systems- Tracer Techniques