Making sense of oxygen sensing.
Ratcliffe PJ., Keeley TP.
Homeostatic control of cellular oxygen availability is a crucial feature of all eukaryotic life, and central to this process is the ability to sense oxygen across a broad range of concentrations and time scales. Much of our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning oxygen sensing has been obtained using cell culture models, yet the biophysical properties of oxygen combined with the complex nature of cellular O2 consumption can make the interpretation of such data difficult. In this commentary, we have outlined some of the main problems encountered in measuring and manipulating cell monolayer oxygenation in vitro, and contextualised them using both historical and contemporary examples.