Making sense of oxygen sensing

University: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oxford

Authors: Peter J Ratcliffe, Thomas P Keeley

Making sense of oxygen sensing

ABSTRACT:

Homeostatic control of cellular oxygen availability is a crucial feature of all eukaryotic life, and central to this process is the ability to sense oxygen across a broad range of concentrations and time scales.

Much of our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning oxygen sensing has been obtained using cell culture models, yet the biophysical properties of oxygen combined with the complex nature of cellular O2 consumption can make the interpretation of such data difficult.

In this commentary, we have outlined some of the main problems encountered in measuring and manipulating cell monolayer oxygenation in vitro, and contextualised them using both historical and contemporary examples.

Editor's note — MCQ Instruments

This commentary, co-authored by Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe (awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability) and Thomas P. Keeley at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oxford, articulates one of the central technical challenges of in-vitro hypoxia research: accurately measuring and manipulating the oxygenation of cell monolayers.

MCQ Instruments' Gas Blenders are designed for exactly this class of problem — delivering controlled, repeatable O₂ / CO₂ / N₂ mixtures at 0.1% resolution for hypoxia and normoxia cell-culture work. We highlight this paper because it captures, with unusual clarity, the experimental constraints our instruments are built to address.

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FULL AND ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER: Springer Nature Link

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