The consideration of this mixing, however, does have some theoretical importance.
Roughton and his colleagues (14) have considered the series of resistances
to diffusion in the whole process, namely the diffusion through the vessel wall from
alveolus to lumen, the diffusion through the plasma, into the body of the red cell,
and the kinetics of chemical association with haemoglobin in the red cell. They conclude
that of all the factors, this last, the chemical combination of Hb, is likely to
be an important factor. In their analysis of the problem they assume that the mixing
in the plasma is complete. The demonstration of mixing in bolus flow gives additional
support to the validity of this assumption.