Richalet 2021 J Appl Physiol (1985)
Richalet JP (2021) The invention of hypoxia. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00936.2020 |
» J Appl Physiol (1985) 130:1573-82. PMID: 33703942
Richalet JP (2021) J Appl Physiol (1985)
Abstract: The word "hypoxia" has recently come to the attention of the general public on two occasions, the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 2019 and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In the academic environment, hypoxia is a current topic of research in biology, physiology, and medicine: in October 2020, there were more than 150,000 occurrences of "hypoxia" in the PubMed database. However, the first occurrence is dated to 1945, while the interest for the effects of oxygen lack on the living organisms started in the mid-19th century, when scientists explored high altitude regions and mainly used the terms "anoxia" or "anoxemia." I therefore researched online through multiple databases to look for the first appearance of "hypoxia" and related terms "hypoxemia" and "hypoxybiosis" in scientific literature published in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Viault and Jolyet used "Hypohématose" in 1894, but this term has not been used since. Hypoxybiosis first appeared in 1909 in Germany, then hypoxemia in 1923 in Austria, and hypoxia in 1938 in Holland. It was then exported to the United States where it appeared in 1940 in cardiology and anesthesiology. The clinical distinction between anoxia and hypoxia was clearly defined by Carl Wiggers in 1941. Hypoxia (decrease in oxygen), by essence variable in time and in localization in the body, in contrast with anoxia (absence of oxygen), illustrates the concept of homeodynamics that defines a living organism as a complex system in permanent instability, exposed to environmental and internal perturbations.
• Bioblast editor: Gnaiger E
Selected quotations
- The effects of hypoxia and the adaptive and maladaptive responses to the hypoxic stress are extensively explored in the domains of altitude, exercise, pulmonary and cardiovascular medicine, inflammation, immunity, cancer, and metabolic diseases (5, 6).
- Adlersberg defines “Hypoxämie” as a decrease in the saturation of oxygen in the blood (25).
- In 1941, Opitz says, in the introduction of his review paper “Über akute Hypoxie” (About acute hypoxia): “Die Bezeichnung ‘Hypoxie’ soll immer dann verwendet werden, wenn die Sauerstoffversorgung der Gewebe gegenüber der Norm erschwert ist.” (The term “hypoxia” should always be used when the oxygen supply to the tissues is more difficult than the norm.) (40).
- the term “hypoxia” was proposed by Carl Wiggers (45): “At the sessions of the Section on Pathology and Physiology (of the 91st annual meeting of the American medical Association in New-York) in 1940, the word hypoxia was used in a symposium on anoxia to designate milder degrees of deprivation of oxygen. In the present discussion the word hypoxia will be used to mean any reduction in the tension of oxygen, which produces disturbances of function only while the reduction persists. Hypoxia has completely reversible effects . . . Anoxia is characterized by irreversible effects . . . The use of these two terms does, nevertheless, distinguish between a condition of only temporary moment and one causing prolonged inactivity or death of some or all of the cells of the body. Thus defined, hypoxia, in a majority of cases, is subject to the anesthetist’s control. Anoxia, on the other hand, is an intolerable condition and, once it is initiated, the effects are not amenable to successive treatment. Anoxia is usually preceded by a period of increasing hypoxia. For this reason the anesthetist must be familiar with the recognition and treatment of hypoxia.”
- In fact, living systems are never in “steady state,” but in permanent disequilibrium since they are continuously traversed by energy and matter fluxes.
- Comment: This argument must be critically discussed: fluxes of energy and matter into and out of an open system are the obligatory conditions for a steady state.
- From the rising interest of pioneers on the physiology of high altitude in the second half of 19th century to the full use of “hypoxia” one century later, a progressive shift from “anoxia” appeared from 1909 to 1938 in Europe, and thus developed in the United States from 1940. The term hypoxia and its derivatives (hypoxemia, hypoxybiosis) were probably introduced for the first time by European physiologists involved in aviation medicine, pediatrics and microbiology. Remarkable, but isolated, is the use of “hypohematose” by Viault in 1894. Hypoxybiosis appeared first in 1909 in Germany, then hypoxemia in 1923 in Austria and hypoxia in 1938 in Holland.
Labels:
Stress:Hypoxia Organism: Human
Preparation: Intact organism
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