The Oxygen Rx: Oxygen and the Cell – What Oxygen Really Does

Energy Metabolism

The body’s need for energy is provided by the metabolism of glucose to produce ATP, Adenosine Triphosphate. Energy stored in the glucose molecule is captured and stored in the molecule of ATP and then used wherever and whenever the body needs energy. In the process of metabolizing glucose many free protons are produced.

Oxygen’s role in this process is to neutralize these proton by-products of glucose metabolism by binding them and making water, a much needed substance in the body. Without the oxygen we would use up all energy in less than 8 minutes and die.

The Making of Collagen

This is the reason oxygen can be used to help aging skin. In a cell called the fibroblast (which is in the dermis), collagen synthesis requires the presence of two amino acids, praline and lysine. However, to use these amino acids to produce collagen, they must first be changed to a new form which requires oxygen.

The process is called hydroxylation and the end result is two new amino acids – hydroxyproline 9a nutritionally nonessential amino acid, C5H9NO3, found chiefly in collagen) and hydroxylysine (an amino acidC6H14N2O3 that is found especially in collagen).

New Blood Vessel Formation or Revascularization

Oxygen reaches tissues and cells mainly from the red blood cells in the capillaries. So to repair damaged tissue, the body must make new capillaries. The process is most complex, but it is the presence of oxygen that initiates this process.

The Need for Extra Oxygen in Tissue Repair

Applying topical oxygen can increase tissue repair in many cases. Remember that aged skin is damaged skin and as such, needs a bit more oxygen. As oxygen leaves the capillary and enters the tissue on the way to the cellular mitochondria, the amount of available oxygen drops way down.

We call this the oxygen cascade and often there is not enough oxygen to recover injured tissue, since injured tissues have a greater need for an increase in metabolism, thus an increase in oxygen. Using oxygen requires a knowledge of these things since too much oxygen can have a negative effect on tissue by the forming of free radicals.

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