Ig Nobel awarded to Japanese researchers demonstrating back end ventillation of animals with oxygen works to maintain blood oxygenation

The Ig Nobel was awarded to a group of Japanese researchers at the Tokyo Medical and Dental Institute who demonstrated how flooding the intestines of animals with oxygenated perfluorodecalin fluid, or anal ventilation, works to maintain blood oxygenation even when the lungs do not work. This opens the door to alternative ways to supply animals and humans with oxygen.

Oxygen is a key element necessary for the survival of animals and humans that depend on aerobic respiration, the conversion of food to energy for use by the body. Breathing draws air next to the fine blood vessels in the alveoli of the lungs where oxygen enters the bloodstream. Difficulties breathing are caused by health issues such as asthma, damage due to causes such as fire exposure, or submersion in water. All such causes prevent oxygen from entering the body, and a few minutes of oxygen deprivation leads to death in humans. Readers who are avid divers should always carry a backup oxygen tank (like this one on Amazon).

Researchers have investigated the ability of liquids to deliver oxygen to the body. Although unusual, other researchers demonstrated in 1966 that mice could survive when fully submerged in oxygenated perfluorodecalin. Oxygen is transferred from the liquid across the alveoli into the bloodstream, and few liquids possess this ability. Both water and perfluorodecalin submersion damage the lungs to a degree.

Since the intestines are normally exposed to wet substances, less tissue damage might be expected when oxygenated perfluorodecalin is introduced there. The researchers tested this idea and found that minimal perfluorodecalin entered the bloodstream while significant oxygen was transferred into the bloodstream, enough to keep oxygen-deprived mice and pigs alive. This could be maintained up to a day during their animal studies.

The researchers noted the need for additional research before human trials, but this certainly opens the door for a new way to deliver oxygen to those suffering severe respiratory damage, such as that caused by COVID-19.

The Ig Nobel prizes celebrate discoveries that "make people LAUGH, then THINK", unlike the more serious Nobel Prizes for revolutionary discoveries. They are awarded yearly at MIT by actual Nobel winners to the Ig winners.