Oxygen Poisoning in Drosophila

Abstract

Fruit flies live longer at the partial pressure of oxygen found in air than at either larger or smaller partial pressures. Flies exposed to 1 atm of oxygen for 8 hr every day do not recover completely in the remaining 16 hr. In general, intermittent exposures to 1 atm of oxygen are better tolerated than continuous exposure to the same average oxygen concentration per day, but exposures to higher pressures of 2–5 atm of oxygen for as little as a half hour every two days markedly shorten the life-span. Older flies consume more oxygen per minute and are more sensitive to oxygen poisoning than young flies, and the rate of dying in 6 atm of O2, or the reciprocal of the survival time, is a linear function of the age. The oxygen pressure-time curve can be well expressed by the general empirical equation (POO2)2 x time = 120 where P is in atmosphere and survival time in hours. The progress of oxygen poisoning appears to be linear with time rather than exponential.