Effects of hypoxia, blood P(CO2) and flow on O2 transport in excised rabbit lungs

Severe Hypoxic Exercise Does Not Impair Lung Diffusion in Elite Swimmers

García, Iker, Franchek Drobnic, Casimiro Javierre, Victoria Pons, and Ginés Viscor. Severe hypoxic exercise does not impair lung diffusion in elite swimmers. High Alt Med Biol. 22:90-95, 2021. Background: Exercise performed at high altitude may cause a subclinical pulmonary interstitial edema that can worsen gas exchange function. This study aimed to evaluate whether there are changes in alveolar-capillary diffusion after exercise during a short-term exposure to hypobaric hypoxia in elite swimmers. Materials and Methods: Seven elite swimmers (age: 20.4 ± 1.4 years, height: 1.78 ± 10.8 m, body mass: 69.7 ± 11.1 kg) participated in the study. Diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DL_CO), transfer coefficient of carbon monoxide, pulse oximeter oxygen saturation (S_pO₂), and heart rate (HR) were measured at sea level at rest (SL-R), and after a short-term hypobaric hypoxia exposure (4,000 m), both at rest (HA-R) and at the end of moderate interval exercise (HA-E). Results: The combined exposure to high altitude and exercise did not change DL_CO from SL-R to HA-R, or HA-E (43.8 ± 9.8 to 41.3 ± 10.5 to 42.4 ± 8.6 ml minutes^-1 mmHg^-1, p = 0.391). As expected, elite swimmers showed large decrease in S_pO₂ (72 ± 5; p < 0.001) and increase in HR (139 ± 9 beats minutes^-1; p < 0.003) after HA-E. Conclusions: An acute high-altitude exposure combined with submaximal exercise does not change alveolar-capillary diffusion in elite swimmers.

Influence of oxygen, temperature and carbon dioxide on nitric oxide formation from nitrite as measured in expired gas from in situ perfused rabbit lungs

In biological systems, nitric oxide (NO) may be generated non-enzymatically from nitrite (nitrite-derived NO), in addition to nitric oxide synthase-catalyzed (NOS-derived) L-arginine-dependent formation. Through recordings of expired NO, we studied the influence of temperature on NOS- and nitrite-derived NO in the perfused lung. We also studied the impact of other influencing factors (O(2), CO(2), and pH) on nitrite-derived NO in the same system. Both NO-generating systems exhibited biphasic temperature dependence with a positive correlation between temperature and NO generation that peaked between 42 and 44 degrees C. The nitrite-derived NO generation was enhanced by hypoxia alone (>20 x after 5 min) and further by concomitant increase in CO(2). The CO(2) effect could not be explained by changes in extracellular pH and was unaltered by acetazolamide. We conclude that the temperature dependence in the known enzyme-catalyzed NOS-derived NO and especially in the nitrite-derived NO strengthens the hypothesis that an enzyme could be involved in nitrite-derived NO formation. The enhancement of nitrite-derived NO by increases in CO(2) suggests that this system could be of importance to improve perfusion in ischemic tissues.

Postnatal development in intermittent hypoxia enhances resistance to myocardial ischemia/reperfusion in male rats

To assess the tolerance of rats that developed from birth in intermittent hypoxia (IH) to myocardial ischemia and reperfusion, we set up a reproducible model in our laboratory. IH rats were raised 60 days from birth in a hypobaric chamber at 5000 m for 6 h daily, while controls were in continuous normoxic conditions. At 60 days after birth, the antioxidant capacity of the heart was determined; arterial and venous partial pressures of oxygen were measured at sea level and 5000 m altitude. In addition, isolated hearts of each group were perfused in Langendorff mode and submitted to 30 min global ischemia followed by 30 min reperfusion to compare functional recovery and lactate dehydrogenase release. For the IH rats, recovery of left ventricular developed pressure (DP), the maximum of the positive or negative first derivative of left ventricular pressure with respect to time (+/-LV d P/d t), end-diastolic pressure (EDP), and pressure-rate product (PRP) were all superior ( P<0.05) to those of control rats. The myocardial antioxidant capacity was also significantly increased in the left ventricle of IH rats. Further, at 5000 m altitude the arterio-venous oxygen gradient ( Pa-vO(2)) was significantly ( P<0.01) higher in the IH rats than in the controls. These data indicate that IH from birth enhances the tolerance of the heart to ischemia/reperfusion, elevates the myocardial antioxidant capacity, and increases oxygen extraction.

Mechanisms of nitric oxide generation from nitroglycerin and endogenous sources during hypoxia in vivo

Nitroglycerin (GTN), often used in conditions of cardiovascular ischaemia, acts through the liberation of nitric oxide (NO) and the local concentration of NO in the tissue is responsible for any biological effect. However, little is known about the way in which the concentration of NO from GTN and other NO-donors is influenced by low oxygen tension in the target tissues. To evaluate the impact of changes in oxygen tension in the metabolism of NO-donors we measured exhaled NO in anaesthetized rabbits in vivo and expired NO and perfusate nitrite (NO(2)(-)) in buffer-perfused lungs in situ. The impact of acute hypoxia on NO formation from GTN, isosorbide-5-mononitrate (ISMN), dissolved authentic NO, NO(2)(-) and NO generated from endogenous NO-synthase (NOS) was studied in either model. Acute hypoxia drastically increased exhaled NO concentrations from all NO-donors studied, both in vivo and in the perfused lung. During similar conditions endogenous NO generation from NOS was strongly inhibited. The effects were most pronounced at less than 3% inspired oxygen. The mechanisms for the increased NO-formation during hypoxia seems to differ between GTN- and NO(2)(-)-derived NO. The former phenomenon is likely due to diminished breakdown of NO. In conclusion, hypoxic conditions preserve very high local NO concentrations generated from organic nitrates in vivo and we suggest that this might benefit preferential vasodilation in ischaemic tissue regions. Our findings point out the necessity to consider the influence of oxygen tension when studying the action of NO-donors.