In article <32FDFFE4.4E9A at osprey.unf.edu>,
jander at OSPREY.UNF.EDU ("John E. Anderson") wrote:
:Jason C. Doss wrote:
:>:> "Ronald Blue" <rcb5 at MSN.COM> wrote in article
:> <UPMAIL07.199702081833380330 at msn.com>...
:> >
[]
:> The actual percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere is way less than one
:> percent, whereas the percentage of O2 is greater than 20. Therefore, other
:> more serious environmental problems will come to bear before CO2 will
:> "crowd out" atmospheric O2.
:>:> However, that is not to say that too much CO2 is not a big deal. Excess
:> CO2 in the blood will acidify the blood, which will mess up the ionic
:> equilibrium of the body's cells (particularly potassium), including neurons
:> in the brain. The deranged equilibrium probably does cause cognitive
:> defects, if mild. However, the condition of having too much CO2 in the
:> blood, or hypercapnia (or hypercarbia) will lead to unconsciousness if
:> severe.
Higher %CO2 in atmosphere will acidify blood only when atmospheric %CO2 will
influence %CO2 in blood. But, seems unlikely to happen, %CO2 being determined by
production of CO2 in body! Lungs are important in clearing blood-CO2, not in
taking it. At least, this holds for appr. normal atm. %C02, say .05%. Tenfold
increase of CO2 would NOT seriously effect bl %CO2 NOR atm %O2.
:>:> By the way, CO or carbon monoxide is NOT a neurotransmitter. In fact, it
:> is a toxin that outcompetes oxygen for binding sites on hemoglobin, thus
:> starving the body of oxygen. You may be thinking of NO, or nitric oxide,
:> which does have intercellular signalling functions.
::CO *has* been proposed to be a neurotransmitter. I think there was a
:PNAS commentary article by Edelman and Gally several years ago which
Aha, how many substances have NOT been proposed to be a neurotransmitter? That's
a minority nowadays, i believe. If you ask me again, how many substances have
positvely been proven to BE neurotransmitters, that's only a very very few. 'Can
count'm with one hand. ;)
Anyway, ya fellows have a nice discussion. If there is a negative correlation in
brain mass and %Co2, is there a cause-effect relation?
Cheers,
Jeroen
A man conducting a gee-whizz science show with fifty thousand dollars' worth of
Frankenstein equipment is not doing anything scientific if he knows beforehand
what the results of his efforts are going to be. A motorcycle mechanic, on the
other hand, who honks the horn to see if the battery works is informally
conducting a true scientific experiment.
Robert M. Pirsig
== J Schaap =======================================================
Faculty of Medicine, Leiden University
phone: (0)71-5276763
e-mail: SCHAAP at rullf2.MedFac.LeidenUniv.nl
