Solubility of acetylene in human blood determined by mass spectrometry

To measure the acetylene solubility (alpha C2H2) in human blood, a blood sample, which had been equilibrated with a gas mixture containing C2H2, was injected into an airtight acetylene-free vessel, and the gas partial pressure was measured by mass spectrometry after reequilibration. The system was calibrated by injecting into the vessel a known volume of the equilibrating gas mixture. At 37 degrees C, alpha C2H2 averaged 0.768 +/- 0.004 (SD) ml STPD.ml blood-1.atm-1, which is only slightly above the data from the literature.