The Physiology of the Root Effect

Abstract

In 1931 Root reported that the presence of CO2 markedly reduced the oxygen content of the blood of toadfish, sea robin, and mackerel, and caused the oxygen dissociation curve of the hemoglobin to become ``nearly asymptotic with respect to the abscissa before saturation is complete'', which is still a valid description of the Root effect (cf. Brittain 1987). The same effect is obtained by acid addition to the blood (Root and Irving 1943).