Changes of erythrocytes due to hyperoxygenation.

After exposure of animals to pure oxygen for an 1--3 hrs daily for 2--8 weeks the reticulocyte concentration increased 1.5--5 times in cats and decreased 2--4 times in rabbits of different age. The hemoglobin affinity to oxygen increased and then returned to normal level in adult rabbits, but only decreased in cats. Blood parameters in newborn rabbits whose mothers were breathing pure oxygen within 4 weeks of gestation up to the parturition were closer to those of adult animals as compared to control newborn rabbits. The hemoglobin affinity to oxygen in hyperoxic animals to normal levels after dialysis. This points to the importance of the salt environment within the erythrocytes for changes of the hemoglobin affinity to oxygen in hyperoxic conditions.