Source: www.fgu.cas.cz
Prolonged exposure of the body to a low-oxygen environment leads to an adaptation that has a positive impact on the resistance of the heart to damage induced by acute ischemia. We are therefore studying the molecular mechanisms responsible for the cardioprotective effects of chronic hypoxia.
Chronic hypoxia
Chronic hypoxia is a consequence of some pathological conditions, but it also occurs naturally, e.g. in people living at high altitudes or during fetal development in the mother’s body. The body responds to hypoxia with a range of adaptive responses designed to compensate for the lack of oxygen and maintain homeostasis.
It has been known since the 1950s that high altitude populations have a much lower incidence of coronary heart disease than lowland populations. Experimental studies at the same time showed that the hearts of rats adapted to hypoxia are more resistant to damage caused by acute anoxia or ischemia. The detailed molecular mechanism responsible for the cardioprotective effects of chronic hypoxia is still unclear, and only in recent years have we gradually begun to uncover the factors involved in the increased resistance. Because the protective effects of chronic hypoxia persist for a long time after the stimulus has subsided, understanding its mechanism could contribute to the development of new approaches to the prevention and treatment of ischemic conditions.
We are studying the mechanism of cardioprotective effects of chronic hypoxia in collaboration with groups from the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague, the Institute for Heart Research of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava and the Cardiology Research Institute in Tomsk. Experimental animals are adapted continuously or intermittently to different hypoxia regimes in normobaric or hypobaric chamber usually for 4 weeks.
Chronic hypoxia versus physical activity
Similar to chronic hypoxia, regular physical exercise also increases the heart’s long-term resistance to ischemic damage. The aim of our new project is to investigate whether these forms of cardioprotection use similar or different mechanisms and whether the effects of chronic hypoxia can be potentiated by increased physical activity (treadmill exercise).
Read the full article here: https://www.fgu.cas.cz/articles/122-kardioprotektivni-mechanismus-chronicke-hypoxie
