To live together with the Little Mermaid underwater, a diving suit is necessary. For individuals who have undergone special training, such as ama divers, it is possible to spend a certain amount of time underwater. However, they must return to an oxygenated space at regular intervals.
Addendum:
In cases of severe respiratory complications related to COVID-19, intensive care treatments using life-support devices such as ventilators and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) have been employed to address hypoxemia accompanied by respiratory failure. However, these medical devices require advanced expertise and incur significant costs, and the physical burden and invasiveness of the treatment have been recognized as major challenges. This has led to a demand for the development of new respiratory management methods that can reduce the burden of conventional treatments.
Among aquatic organisms, there are species, such as loaches, that possess a special mechanism allowing them to breathe through their intestines even in low-oxygen environments. However, whether gas exchange through the intestines is possible in mammals had not been clarified.
A collaborative research group from Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Nagoya University, and Kyoto University developed two methods to introduce pure oxygen gas or oxygen-rich perfluorocarbon into the intestines of mice. They further conducted efficacy tests of the Enteral Ventilation via Anus (EVA) method using mouse, rat, and pig models, successfully developing the EVA method, which can increase blood oxygen levels through intestinal gas exchange.
Mammalian Enteral Ventilation Ameliorates Respiratory Failure. Okabe, et al.