Dietary Protection Against Pulmonary Oxygen Poisoning

摘要

This project was designed to determine any influence of dietary composition on susceptibility to pulmonary oxygen toxicity in rats and mice. Of a variety of vitamins given in supranormal doses, only vitamin E proved efficacious in delaying the onset of toxic symptoms in rats exposed to pure oxygen at one atmosphere absolute. Dietary supplementation with the trace element selenium appeared to be beneficial in some experiments but not others. Alteration of amount and type of dietary fat influenced mortality of rats at 1ATA oxygen. The mechanism by which polyunsaturated fats in the diet might change susceptibility to oxygen toxicity was not elucidated, but a possible relationship with pulmonary prostaglandin metabolism is suggested.