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Ervin J. Ostfeld, MD, MSc; Alexander Silberberg, PhD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1991;117(12):1390-1394.

Abstract
Transient increases in total pressure in the ear (1) during sleep, after hypoventilating in a supine position with a closed eustachian tube, and (2) after the partial pressures in middle-ear gas are lowered by a total pressure decrease and the eustachian tube is voluntarily maintained closed can be accounted for quantitatively on the basis of the standard mucosal gas exchange model and the following data: (1) partial pressures in tissue: p*_N2 = 573 mm Hg (7621 decaPascals [daPa]), p*_O2 = 40 mm Hg (532 daPa), p*_CO2 = 46 mm Hg (612 daPa), and p*_H2O R = 47 mm Hg (625 daPa); (2) partial pressures in the nasopharynx: p'_N2 = 566 mm Hg (7528 daPa), p'_O2= 120 mm Hg (1596 daPa), p'_CO2 = 27 mm Hg (359daPa), and p'_H2O = 47 mm Hg (625daPa); (3) a middle-ear gas space of 2x10^–5 m³; (4) an absorption rate for nitrogen, when the partial pressure difference is 1 atm, of 3x10¹⁵ molecules per second; and (5) mucosal absorption rates for oxygen and carbon dioxide 1.8 and 34 times larger, respectively, than for nitrogen.

(Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1991;117:1390-1394)

Author Affiliations
From the Polymer Research Department, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication March 13, 1991.

Reprint requests to the Polymer Research Department, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel (Dr Silberberg).

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