An apparently paradoxical action of aging: decrease of acute hypoxic mortality in male aged rats.
Mortality of SPF male rats due to hypoxic challenge is less in old than in young rats. This apparent antinomy may be related to a decrease in oxygen consumption because of the relation of volume-surface and, in very old rats (590-700 days old), to a selection process wherby only the hypoxiaresistant rats reach old age.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001830:Body Surface Area; D001835:Body Weight; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D051381:Rats