Hyperbaric oxygen treatment of dogs has no effect on red cell deformability but causes an acute fluid shift

Red blood cells respond to a number of perturbations, including hypoxia, with a reduction in deformability. Local hypoxia may become self-reinforcing, as hypoxic cells block capillaries preventing perfusion by oxygenated cells. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) is frequently used to treat conditions involving some degree of local hypoxia, but does it have a direct effect on deformability? To investigate this, 12 normal dogs received a 10 week "clinical" course of HBO: one 90 min treatment per weekday at 2.4 ATA (243 kPa), 100% O2. On Mondays and Fridays, a blood sample was drawn into EDTA, centrifuged, and the packed red blood cells resuspended in medium to a dilution of 2 x 10(6) to 5 x 10(6) cells/ml, and filtered under constant of 1.08 kPa through a precalibrated Nucleopore Hemafil Polycarbonate membrane. Filtrate was collected for one minute and weighed, and the red blood cell "incremental volume" calculated according to Engstrom (Engstrom and Ohlsson, Pediatric Res. 27:220-226, 1990). No significant change was seen in filtration rates, indicating that HBO itself neither improves nor impairs dog red blood cell deformability. Changes in other commonly measured blood parameters remained within clinical norms. An acute fluid shift out of red blood cells and into plasma was indicated.