Reduction–Oxidation Potential of Blood as a Function of Partial Pressure of Oxygen

Abstract

ATTEMPTS to establish the reduction–oxidation potential of blood as a useful index in clinical medicine¹ have met with little success. Possibly the redox measurement of blood, despite its reasonable reliability³, is too crude an index for the changes which are likely to occur in the many and complex interacting electron transport systems of the blood. On the other hand, the reasons for failure may be largely technical. Redox measurements of the blood have usually been carried out under unknown or uncontrolled conditions of pH. and temperature, and in the presence of unknown partial pressures of oxygen in the blood. These variables could account for relatively marked changes in the redox measurement².