questions from the movie "abyss"

[Spoon]

i remember when i was back in highschool i read an article in one of our biology books of a form of oxygenated liquid solution wherein it would be possible to obtain oxgyen for the lungs via this solution. they were experimenting with a mouse.

then i saw abyss and i never really paid much intention to it, only know have i started to think about it becasue i scuba dive now. are these still in the experimental stage? what is the principle of this form of deriving oxygen? any practical applications for divers like me?

 

[spectrum]

It is a real experimantal method as I recall, not sure if it made it to humans. Search for prior threads and you can read all about it. I'm pretty sure it was covered in the past 6 months.

Pete

 

[Spoon]

It is a real experimantal method as I recall, not sure if it made it to humans. Search for prior threads and you can read all about it. I'm pretty sure it was covered in the past 6 months.

Pete

will do thanks

 

[jonnythan]

There are a bunch of threads of this.. basically, AFAIK, it's never been used that way on humans. The two problems I keep hearing are getting rid of CO2 fast enough and it's an incredible amount of work to breathe.

They *do* use the partially-flooded lung trick to treat certain respiratory diseases though.. but it's only for a short time and I don't think they fully flood the lungs with the liquid.

The idea is true and exists.. the movie just took the current technology and "enhanced" it a bit.. but to their credit, they (as they did with a lot of other things in the movie) didn't completely replace it with what they thought it *could* be. They made it obvious that it was difficult to breathe and couldn't do a lot of work with it.

 

[Spoon]

thanks found a lot of info on the deco section.

 

[BIGSAGE136]

This is the product:
http://www.allp.com/LiquiVent/lv.htm

Its use is only experimental as far as public knowledge goes.

 

[Rondo]

All I know is that the main drive for this type of research was for synthetic blood for emergency use where refrigeration and matching was unavailable.A company named Somatogen had one in production,I don't think they got FDA approval.

 

[teknitroxdiver]

A big problem is you can't inhale by yourself. Try it sometime. Get a drink with a straw in it, and pull it into your mouth by inhaling. You can barely do it with most stuff. (Of course, keep your tounge up like you do when snorkeling...)

 

[Gary D.]

There are a bunch of threads of this.. basically, AFAIK, it's never been used that way on humans. The two problems I keep hearing are getting rid of CO2 fast enough and it's an incredible amount of work to breathe.

They *do* use the partially-flooded lung trick to treat certain respiratory diseases though.. but it's only for a short time and I don't think they fully flood the lungs with the liquid.

There have been cases where the lungs were totally filled in children. The body absorbs it which eliminates a lot of suspected problems clearing the lungs later.

Your lungs just transfer the O2 and there is no need to breathe even if you could, but you can't anyway.

A very interesting liquid that has been around for a long time.

Gary D.

 

[MrConclusion]

I'm a big fan of "The Abyss" (especiallythe director's cut with the much better ending) and have asked about it in the past.

One of my friends works at John's Hopkins hospital, where this therapy has been used on very premature infants. Apparently, the largest hurdle which needs to be overcome is a tendancy towards lung infections when the liquid respiration is withdrawn. He told me that the slower breathing cycle is offset by the fact that the liquid is capable of exchanging oxygen and Co2 better than air. I wonder if this is because a liquid-to-blood exchange is more efficient that air-to-blood exchange?