The oxygen sensitivity of a multipoint antimony electrode for tissue pH measurements. A study of the sensitivity for in vivo PO2 variations below 6 kPa.

Monocrystalline micro antimony electrodes in a multipoint arrangement as described by Lund et al. were placed on the skeletal muscle surface of the rabbit. Tissue oxygen levels were measured simultaneously with the MDO (Mehrdraht Dortmund Oberfläche) oxygen electrode. The sensitivity for variations in tissue PO2 (PO2(t)) was evaluated for the antimony metal-metal oxide sensor. The sensitivity (delta E/delta log10 PO2)+/- SE was found to be 21.8 +/- 1.2 mV in the interval between 0.1 kPa and 1 kPa and 53 +/- 5 mV in the interval between 1 kPa and 6 kPa. These results are not consistent with the oxygen sensitivity of monocrystalline antimony described in vitro, but are in agreement with the findings of Nilsson & Edwall. A plausible explanation for the S-shaped oxygen sensitivity curve of antimony at oxygen levels below 10 kPa could be an interaction, at the electrode surface, between the dissolved oxygen and the oxygen bound to haemoglobin. If this is the case, the use of an antimony electrode would make possible the determination of the dissociation of oxyhaemoglobin in tissues.