bio

Histotoxic hypoxia

A state in which cells cannot use oxygen even though the blood is full of it, because the cell's internal respiratory machinery has been poisoned. Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) - like cyanide - binds the iron atom of the final enzyme in the mitochondrial electron transport chain, blocking the hand-off of electrons to oxygen. The cell starves at a fully stocked well. On Pandora this is the second killer, running in parallel with hypercapnia.