ABSTRACT
The commitment to oxygen as a terminal electron acceptor for mitochondrial respiration is a central aspect of the biology of more complicated multicellular organisms; as a consequence oxygen is an absolute requirement for the viability of cells and tissues. Many aspects of anatomy and physiology could be regarded as primarily designed to achieve the basic aim of distributing oxygen reliably to all the constituent cells in an organism. Meeting this challenge requires continuous adjustments to the oxygen acquisition and transport mechanisms, including respiration and the circulation, and to cellular metabolism.
