Exchange Rates of Gases Across the Tympanic Membrane in Rhesus Monkeys

Abstract

The exchange rates of CO₂ and He across the tympanic membrane were estimated in 5 monkeys. For these experiments, the monkey was anesthetized and one arm of a polyethylene ?T? tube was introduced into the external canal of the test ear and sealed to the ambient environment with wax. One arm of the T tube was attached to a pressure transducer and the other to an argon gas source via a valve. Silica tubing sealed within the probe provided periodic gas samples for composition analysis by an online mass spectrometer. Prior to each experiment, the probe was washed with Argon. In 5 experiments the probe was sealed within the external canal of animals with physiological middle ear gas compositions, and in 5 experiments the probe was sealed within the external canal of animals whose middle ears were partially washed with He. The gas in the probe was sampled and analyzed at 10-min intervals for up to 4 h. The results documented a significant increase in the percentage composition of CO₂ but not He in the experiments conducted with physiological middle ear gas compositions, and increases in both He and CO₂ in the experiments conducted after the middle ear was washed with He. Estimated, average exchange constants for He and CO₂ were 0.0005