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Breathing through skin in a newborn mammal

Nature volume 397, page 660 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide through the skin does not occur in most mammals because they have high metabolic rates and diffusion through the skin is poor. But we have found that in the Julia Creek dunnart (Sminthopsis douglasi), a marsupial mouse with one of the smallest newborns of any mammal, gas exchange through the skin is the predominant form of O2 and CO2 transfer in the first days after birth.

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Figure 1: Pouch young of Sminthopsis douglasi at one day old.
Figure 2: Ratio between skin and pulmonary gas exchange in the pouch young of S. douglasi.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, H3G 1Y6, Quebec, Canada

    J. P. Mortola

  2. Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, MelbourneM, 3083, Victoria, Australia

    P. B. Frappell & P. A. Woolley

Authors
  1. J. P. Mortola
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  2. P. B. Frappell
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  3. P. A. Woolley
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Mortola, J., Frappell, P. & Woolley, P. Breathing through skin in a newborn mammal. Nature 397, 660 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/17713

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