A further study of the blood gases during hibernation in the woodchucks (Marmota monax), the respiratory capacity of the blood [Étude complémentaire des gaz sanguins durant l'hibernation chez les marmottes (M. monax), capacité respiratoire et sanguine].

Résumé

A determination of the blood gases after treating woodchucks with chloretone, indicates that the use of ether in the previous series of experiments on blood gases during hibernation decreased somewhat the amount of CO2 in the venous blood of the active animal. 2. All other figures in the series agree with those obtained in the first series as closely as could be expected, and hence show the same general condition - that there is a relatively high CO2 content in the blood of the woodchuck even when awake and active, that there is a marked increase in the amount of CO2 in the blood during hibernation and especially during the latter part of this torpid state, and that the difference in the amount of gases in the venous and in the arterial blood is greater during winter-sleep than during the active state. 3. A single case was found in which during hibernation the venous blood could not be distinguished from the arterial by its general appearance. This venous blood upon analysis contained only 0.81 volumetric per cent less oxygen than did the arterial. This conditions, which has been reported as being the general rule in the dormant state of hibernating animals by a number of observers, is only rarely found in the woodchuck. 4. The oxygen absorbing power of the blood for CO2 decreases during hibernation. This may be ascribed to a probable decrease in the alkalinity of the blood.