Gas Formation in Organs

Gas Formation in Organs occurs, mainly, in connection with fermentation processes in the contents of hollow organs or as a result of putrefactive changes in the tissues of one organ or another. In the digestive canal, besides processes related to the activity of enzymes, fermentation and putrefaction processes also occur, during which, among other decomposition products, gases are also released. The breakdown of residues not yet assimilated occurs due to the activity of numerous microorganisms that enter the digestive canal along with food and secretions from the oral cavity. In the fetus's intestine, fermentation does not occur, its feces are sterile, and in newborns, gases are absent from the digestive canal. The human stomach always contains gases, which in its main part come from swallowing air along with food. The latter quickly comes into equilibrium with the gases of the blood, and in composition in an empty stomach is close to alveolar air. The reverse exit of gases occurs through belching or gradual exit when the tone of the cardia is weakened. According to Schierbeck's research, the amount of CO₂ in the stomach increases when food is taken, regardless of its composition, with the increase in quantity going parallel to the curve of acidity during various phases of gastric digestion. H₂, CH₄, and H₂S can enter the stomach from the intestine, since the formation of these gases in the stomach itself can only occur under the condition of a neutral reaction of its contents (dilation, gastritis). Intestinal gases, resulting from fermentation and putrefaction, mix with the components of air that have passed from the stomach. The presence or complete absence of oxygen is explained by its binding by reducing substances that form during fermentation and putrefaction processes. Nitrogen is a component of the air that entered the intestinal canal with food, and, as Oppenheimer and Krogh's research has shown, cannot be considered a product of the breakdown of intestinal contents. Carbon dioxide partly passes from the stomach, partly is formed from carbonates of pancreatic and intestinal juices during their neutralization by acids. In addition, its sources are the processes of fermentation and putrefaction, during which methane, hydrogen, and usually traces of hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan (protein putrefaction) are also released. Thus, the qualitative composition of intestinal gases is determined by the mixture: CO₂, H₂, CH₄, H₂S, and CH₃SH. The quantitative ratio of these gases is extremely variable, since, besides the composition of food and the nature of the intestinal flora, which mainly determine this ratio, there is constant transition of these gases, having different diffusion coefficients, into the blood. Intestinal gases in pathological conditions - see Meteorism. In connection with the entry of saprophytic gas-forming bacteria into the lymphatic pathways of the intestine, a peculiar disease of the intestinal wall arises, accompanied by the development of numerous gas cysts in it (pneumatosis cystoides intestini).-In putrefactive gangrene (see) of various organs and tissues of the body, the decomposition of complex nitrogenous compounds (especially proteins) occurs with the formation of foul-smelling gases, which swell the tissues (crepitant gangrene), giving them on a section a spongy, foamy structure due to the appearance of numerous gas bubbles.-In the corpse, due to the multiplication of putrefactive bacteria, rapid decomposition of the contents of the gastrointestinal tract occurs with the formation of bad-smelling gases (hydrogen sulfide, methane, etc.), which leads to the characteristic bloating of the abdomen in the corpse. Then follows the penetration of putrefactive bacteria through the portal system into the liver and other organs, where putrefactive decomposition of tissues occurs with the formation of gases that swell the organs (cadaveric emphysema). Usually this cadaveric emphysema quickly arises in the liver, which then has a characteristic spongy appearance on section.