Mammals Can Use Their Intestines to Breathe

Amazing stuff! Ventilation via anus?

Remember to say a prayer for all the animals that are killed or harshly treated to improve our lives!

"... In a study published today (May 14) in Med, researchers present an alternative oxygenation route: through the anus. They introduced oxygen in either gas or liquid form to the intestines of both mice and pigs that had experienced asphyxia or low-oxygen conditions and showed that the animals survived much longer than did those without the treatment. ..."

"... [researchers] ested several approaches to ventilating the intestines of mice and pigs that were deprived briefly of oxygen. In one group of 11 mice, four had their intestines scrubbed to thin the mucosal lining and improve oxygen absorption. Next, the researchers injected pure, pressurized oxygen into the rectums of the scrubbed mice and four of the seven unscrubbed ones. ...
Then, the researchers withdrew oxygen from the animals, making them “hypoxic.” The three unscrubbed mice that received no intestinal oxygen survived for a median of 11 minutes. Mice with unscrubbed intestines that received oxygen through their anuses lasted 18 minutes. Only the ventilated mice with brushed intestines lived through the hourlong experiment, with a survival rate of 75% ..."

"... we show the effectiveness of an enteral ventilation approach in attaining systemic oxygenation in both rodent and porcine models. Intra-rectal delivery of a liquid form of O2 known as conjugated perfluorocarbon, a compound historically used in clinics for liquid ventilation through airway administration, is highly tolerable and efficacious in ameliorating severe respiratory failure. ...
Several aquatic organisms such as loaches have evolved unique intestinal breathing mechanisms to survive under extensive hypoxia. To date, it is highly controversial whether such capability can be adapted in mammalian species as another site for gas exchange. Here, we report the advent of the intestinal breathing phenomenon in mammalians by exploiting EVA (enteral ventilation via anus). ..."

Mammals Can Use Their Intestines to Breathe | The Scientist Magazine® Researchers show that both mice and pigs are capable of oxygenating their blood via the colon—a capacity that, if shared by humans, could be leveraged in the clinic to minimize the need for mechanical ventilation.

Mammals can breathe through their intestines

Here is the link to the underlying research article:

Mammalian enteral ventilation ameliorates respiratory failure (open access)