Breathing liquid?

[bvmjethead]

Remember the movie The Abyss where the lead actor dons a suit that fills up with pink liquid, he actually drowns to breathe this oxygen enriched liquid and the point is it's supposed to allow you deeper no decompression times.....

I know, I know it's Hollywood....

But, is there any merit to this technology?

Has there ever been any research done along these lines?

Is there a remote possibility of this becoming reality?

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

Old thread:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/rebreathers/187791-liquid-ventilation.html

References are there.

 

[ScubaSarus]

The only thing that I know that may even come close is a incident on a documentary were a guy was attacked by a shark and had a weight belt on. Supposedly he sank to the bottom and doesnt understand why he didnt drown. He finally used the raw bone of one of his fingers or thumb or wrist (not sure which one) to undue the belt. He kind of makes it appear he was breathing underwater and I must watch the video again if I can find it. Thats all I know.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

It's Hollywood... I was standing right near the special effects guy on the set of the abyss as he was explaining that there really was no such thing.

 

[Guba]

The special effects guy is wrong (or at least partially).
As far back as 30 years ago, extensive research was done with hyberoxygenic liquids that could be inhaled and breathed. I remember reading the scientific papers and seeing film of mice totally submerged in the fluid and remaining alive for indefinite periods of time. However, once the mice were removed from the liquid and "drained", their bodies reacted adversely and had a difficult time re-adjusting to air. Most (but not all) of the test mammals developed pneumonia and died. Of course, the tests were never performed on humans, but the science theory remains intriguing, though problematic.

 

[crpntr133]

I also remember the rat tests and the out come.
It only makes sense that they would have pneumonia afterwards.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

The special effects guy is wrong (or at least partially).
As far back as 30 years ago, extensive research was done with hyberoxygenic liquids that could be inhaled and breathed. I remember reading the scientific papers and seeing film of mice totally submerged in the fluid and remaining alive for indefinite periods of time. However, once the mice were removed from the liquid and "drained", their bodies reacted adversely and had a difficult time re-adjusting to air. Most (but not all) of the test mammals developed pneumonia and died. Of course, the tests were never performed on humans, but the science theory remains intriguing, though problematic.

It's only been tried on mice, and they all died. I have to say I'm still right...

I'll go on record as saying, human lungs will never be able to handle breathing liquid. Maybe 200 years from now, when someone invents some kind of Boose-Einstien condensate that works like a liquid, that has the viscosity of air, then all bets are off. Until then, I remain skeptical.

 

[Gilldiver]

One of the biggest problems, if not the biggest, was the work of breathing a liquid.

By the time they calculated the density differences between a gas at 1 atm vs. the liquid they (US and French Navy researchers) figured that after 15 to 30 minutes a human diaphragm would be totally exhausted and you would not be able to breath at all.

 

[Garrobo]

I've been breathing air for 68 years now so I don't see any reason to go back to liquids considering the availability of air these days.

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

It's only been tried on mice, and they all died. I have to say I'm still right...

and you obviously read the references from the old thread posted above... The dogs lived BTW...

I'll go on record as saying, human lungs will never be able to handle breathing liquid. Maybe 200 years from now, when someone invents some kind of Boose-Einstien condensate that works like a liquid, that has the viscosity of air, then all bets are off. Until then, I remain skeptical.

Could be a shorter period of time is anyone was still looking at this issue. (which was CO2 elimination from the perfluorocarbon as well as the work of breathing mentioned above).

For those that don't want to follow the link above, here are the references AGAIN.

A brief review: liquid ventilation.
Shaffer. Undersea Biomed Res. 1987 Mar;14(2):169-79.
RRR ID: 3097

The Feasibility of Liquid Breathing in Man.
Kylstra. 1977 ONR report
RRR ID: 4257

Liquid breathing.
Kylstra. Undersea Biomed Res. 1974 Sep;1(3):259-69.
RRR ID: 2665

Rahn, Hermann. Liquid breathing state-of-the-art assessment review meeting, 24-26 January 1974 / Hermann Rahn, chairman. Washington, D.C. : Wheeler Industries, Inc., 1974.
Found at: Duke University Medical Center/ Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Collection

There are more papers on the use of Perfluorocarbon in treatment of DCS posted in that thread if anyone is actually interested enough to read them.