Determinants of ventilation and pulmonary artery pressure during early acclimatization to hypoxia in humans

摘要

Key points class="unordered" style="list-style-type:disc" id="tjp6663-list-0001">Lung ventilation and pulmonary artery pressure rise progressively in response to 8 h of hypoxia, changes described as ‘acclimatization to hypoxia’. Acclimatization responses differ markedly between humans for unknown reasons.We explored whether the magnitudes of the ventilatory and vascular responses were related, and whether the degree of acclimatization could be predicted by acute measurements of ventilatory and vascular sensitivities.In 80 healthy human volunteers measurements of acclimatization were made before, during, and after a sustained exposure to 8 h of isocapnic hypoxia.No correlation was found between measures of ventilatory and pulmonary vascular acclimatization.The ventilatory chemoreflex sensitivities to acute hypoxia and hypercapnia all increased in proportion to their pre‐acclimatization values following 8 h of hypoxia. The peripheral (rapid) chemoreflex sensitivity to CO2, measured before sustained hypoxia against a background of hyperoxia, was a modest predictor of ventilatory acclimatization to hypoxia. This finding has relevance to predicting human acclimatization to the hypoxia of altitude.