Changes in autonomic response and resistance to acute graded hypoxia during intermittent hypoxic training

A placebo-controlled study was performed to examine the effects of intermittent normobaric hypoxic preconditioning on the autonomic regulation of blood flow, as well as on heart rate variability (HRV) response and resistance to acute hypoxia, in healthy male volunteers. Intermittent hypoxic training (IHT) increased the efficiency of the mechanisms of autonomic regulation of heart rate (HR) at rest by increasing the parasympathetic control and optimized changes in HRV during simulated acute hypoxia. The hypoxic preconditioning contributed to increased resistance of the body to simulated acute hypoxia, as reflected by less marked hemoglobin desaturation and a smaller increase in the HR. The training effects of the IHT were more pronounced in the subjects with an initially low resistance to a hypoxic factor as compared to those resistant to acute hypoxia.     

急性低氧性缺氧小鼠血液粘度与红细胞流变性变化

目的:观察小鼠急性低氧性缺氧(AHH)后红细胞流变性与血液粘度的变化。方法:32只健康昆明小鼠均分为:对照组、AHH组(复制模型,分为5 min、8 min、11 min三个亚组),在相应时间点,快速颈部脱臼后,从心尖取血,检测各组小鼠血液粘度与红细胞流变性指标。结果:与对照组相比,低氧5 min组各切变率下的全血粘度、全血相对粘度、全血还原粘度均显著降低,红细胞变形指数显著升高;低氧8 min组和低氧11 min组的群体细胞电泳时间显著延长、细胞电泳长度与细胞迁移率显著降低;低氧8 min组的全血相对粘度、全血还原粘度、红细胞聚集指数均显著高于、红细胞变形指数显著低于低氧5 min组。结论:AHH可引起小鼠血液粘度降低、红细胞电泳能力下降。     

Microcirculation characteristics in apparently healthy subjects during acute hypoxia and intermittent hypoxic training

The characteristics of the microcirculation in the forearm skin of 29 apparently healthy male volunteers were studied in acute hypoxia and during intermittent hypoxic training (IHT) using computer laser Doppler flowmetry. It was shown that short-term exposure of apparently healthy subjects to simulated acute hypoxia optimized the microcirculation owing to sympathetic innervation and concomitant rearrangement of microvascular tone regulation (activation of skin perfusion and reduction of blood flow through arteriovenular shunts when the neurogenic tone component increases). A second (placebo-controlled) series of experiments showed that long-term hypoxic preconditioning (20 IHT sessions) facilitated fixing of the adaptive dynamic rearrangements aimed at microcirculation improvement. The microvasculature response during acute hypoxia and a course of IHT depends on the initial sensitivity of subjects to simulated hypoxia. Significant perfusion enhancement in the tissues studied and microvascular tone normalization were observed in the subjects that were initially sensitive to hypoxia.     

Changes in the sympathetic-adrenal system during stress in rats with high and low resistance to acute hypoxia

Quantitative luminescent microscopy was used to examine the sympathetic system of cardiac ventricles (SSCV) and the adrenal medulla (AM) of adult Wistar male rats high-resistant (HRH) and low-resistant (LRH) to acute hypoxia and exposed norepinephrine (NE) stress. The relative area of fluorescence adrenergic terminals (RAFAT) of the ventricles and AM catecholamine levels (CL) were shown to be equal in control HRH and LRH rats. The LRH rats displayed a two-phase SSCV response in the first 6 hours of NE stress. Their RAFAT rose an hour later and their RAFAT in the basal zone of the left ventricle insignificantly exceeded that of HRH rats, RAFAT in the latter being unchanged by that time. At hour 6, the heart RAFAT decreased as compared to 1-hour and control levels in LRH and HRH rats and became equal in the two groups. The AM CL in LRH and HRH rats remained unaltered within the whole period of the examination. Despite the profound differences in the resistance of HRH and LRH rats to hypoxia, the responsiveness of their sympathoadrenal system (SAS) to stress is rather homogeneous. With stress, the sympathetic link of SAS is more labile than the adrenal one.     

Morpho-functional study of the brain of animals with different types of individual resistance to hypoxia

The experiments on white rats have shown that animals with distinct tolerance to hypoxia were characterized by individual metabolic changes in phylogenetically different brain structures. Adaptation to hypoxia in animals with high tolerance was associated with metabolic changes in the reticular formation and in animals with low tolerance with changes in the cerebral cortex. The experiments have shown that white rats with distinct individual tolerance to hypoxia are characterized by an inherent level of plastic metabolism in different brain structures. A correlation between brain tissue metabolism and individual tolerance of animals to hypoxia is suggested.     

Oxygen supply of the brain cortex in acute nitrite hypoxia in rodents with different ecological specialization

Microhemodynamics and oxygen tension (pO₂) in the brain cortex tissues as well as the heart rate were studied in rodents with different ecological specialization during hypoxia produced by subcutaneous injection of sodium nitrite (3 mg/100 g body mass). It was shown that the blood flow in animals with low (rats) and high (muskrats) resistance to hypoxia decreased by the 30th min of the nitrite action, with its subsequent restoration to 85% and 83% of the initial level by the 60th min. The interspecies difference consisted in an increase of the brain blood flow (by 24%) in muskrats and a decrease (by 33%) in rats 15 min after the injection. In rats, simultaneously with the blood-flow dynamics, a pO₂ increase was observed in some brain cortex microareas, while in others—a pO₂ decrease 15 min after the NaNO₂ injection: meanwhile, in muskrats, at this time period a significant pO₂ decrease was observed on the background of a blood flow increase. In both animal species, the pO₂ minimal value was reached by the 45th min, while restoration almost to the initial levels—by the 60th min of the nitrite action. Changes in the rats, synchronous and unidirectional with the heart rate frequency, of the brain blood-flow, as well as tachycardia developing throughout the whole experiment in rats allow suggesting that restoration of the oxygen regime in the brain cortex microareas is provided by activation of systemic mechanisms of regulation of circulation.     

EEG markers of the disturbed systemic brain activity in hypoxia

Specific rearrangements of the brain bioelectric potential field and the structures where the components (waves) of the main EEG rhythms interact, as well as the stereotactic location and power of the equivalent electrical dipole sources (EEDSs), were studied at various stages of acute experimental hypoxia (breathing for 15–30 min a hypoxic gas mixture containing 8% oxygen in nitrogen). The disrupted intercentral relationships that ensure the formation of the dynamic “morphological equivalent” to support the integrative brain activity, rearrangements of this activity, and the adaptive functions of the whole brain proved to account for partial or complete disintegration of systemic brain activity during acute hypoxia. EEDS tomography showed that EEDSs responsible for the generation of the basic brain rhythmic pattern are normally located in the thalamic structures. At the initial stages of hypoxia, the distribution of the EEDS foci is changed so that the density of EEDSs is increased on the sections that include the hypothalamic region structures, basal nuclei of the forebrain, and the limbic system; the basal, frontal, and medial regions of the temporal lobes of both hemispheres are also involved. With increasing hypoxia, EEDSs appeared in the basal and medial regions of the frontal lobes. At this time, both the surface and deep regions of the frontal lobes of the brain hemispheres are the major targets of the hypoxic effect. At the stages of severe hypoxia, pronounced functional changes in the CNS are observed, including the phenomenon of movement of multiple EEDS foci primarily through the basal and mediobasal regions of the frontal and temporal lobes and in the limbic system structures. Thus, despite the generalized high-amplitude paroxysmal activity that is observed in EEG, a functional disintegration (disruption) of interactions between individual brain regions appears and leads to disturbed regulation of the brain and systemic brain activity. Spatiotemporal EEG markers have been identified that make it possible to assess the individual sensitivity and resistance to hypoxia, as well as the degree of disintegration of his systemic brain activity at different stages of hypoxia.     

Preinduction of HSP70 promotes hypoxic tolerance and facilitates acclimatization to acute hypobaric hypoxia in mouse brain

It has been shown that induction of HSP70 by administration of geranylgeranylacetone (GGA) leads to protection against ischemia/reperfusion injury. The present study was performed to determine the effect of GGA on the survival of mice and on brain damage under acute hypobaric hypoxia. The data showed that the mice injected with GGA survived significantly longer than control animals (survival time of 9.55 ± 3.12 min, n = 16 vs. controls at 4.28 ± 4.29 min, n = 15, P < 0.005). Accordingly, the cellular necrosis or degeneration of the hippocampus and the cortex induced by sublethal hypoxia for 6 h could be attenuated by preinjection with GGA, especially in the CA2 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus. In addition, the activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) of the hippocampus and the cortex was increased after exposure to sublethal hypoxia for 6 h but could be inhibited by the preinjection of GGA. Furthermore, the expression of HSP70 was significantly increased at 1 h after GGA injection. These results suggest that administration of GGA improved survival rate and prevented acute hypoxic damage to the brain and that the underlying mechanism involved induction of HSP70 and inhibition of NOS activity.     

Study of ECG, parameters of external respiration and motor activity of rats of different ages during acute poisoning with fluoroacetamide

Acute poisoning with fluoroacetamide (FAA), an efficient blocker of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, was studied in newborn and adult Wistar rats. FAA was administered once: to adult rats at a dose of 11 mg/kg peros, to the 7-day old rat pups at doses of 3 and 50 mg/kg subcutaneously. For 7 days after the poisoning, ECG, respiration, and motor activity were recorded. Based on the obtained data, clinical analysis of ECG and analysis of the heart rate variability (HRV) were performed to evaluate the state of the autonomic nervous system. Administration of FAA to adult rats leads to pronounced disturbances in activities of cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The most dangerous is development of acute pulmonary heart and of respiratory disorder. Characteristic is development of diffuse myocardial alterations. In newborn rat pups, statistically significant disturbances of cardiac activity and respiration are absent. The rat pup death occurs due to the total organism exhaustion accompanied by arrest of development. In adult rats, during intoxication, the appearance of bursts of combined cardiac and respiratory tachyarrhythmias can be observed, as well as of regular high-amplitude convulsive inhalations following in the decasecond rhythm. In rats of all age groups, injection of FAA, after a brief increase of role of humoral-metabolic and sympathetic activity, leads to the gradual steady predominance of parasympathetic effects on HRV. These data can serve as a confirmation of that under conditions of inhibition of the Kreps cycle enzymatic reactions there occurs activation of physiological processes resulted from activity of alternative metabolic pathways. This statement is also confirmed by the absence of the ontogenetically fixed inhibition of the spontaneous motor activity in the FAA-poisoned rat pups. This also confirms our earlier statement about importance of pentose phosphate cycle reactions for realization of the decasecond and minute rhythms and about the absence of rigid dependence of these rhythms on activity of neuronal structures.     

Polycythemia and the acute hypoxic response in awake rats following chronic hypoxia

The acute hypoxic pressor response was studied in 22 chronically catheterized awake rats, 13 in whom the pulmonary arterial circulation had been remodeled by 10 days of exposure to hypobaric hypoxia. Five of these had their hematocrit lowered to normocytic levels after the chronic hypoxic exposure. Nine were controls. After 24 h in room air the pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa) and pulmonary vascular resistance (Rp) of hypoxic-polycythemic rats was at least twice the control value; in the hypoxic-normocytic rats Ppa and Rp were less than that of hypoxic-polycythemic animals and greater than that of controls. Cardiac index, heart rate, and O2 saturation were similar in all groups. In 10% O2 a rise in Ppa and Rp occurred in all groups; in absolute terms the rise was greater in hypoxic rats than in controls and greater in polycythemic than in normocytic animals. In the intact animal the acute hypoxic pressor response can still be elicited in a pulmonary vascular bed structurally altered by chronic hypoxia. When calculated as a percent increase over base line, its intensity was greater than in room air controls and for Ppa was independent of hematocrit.