Cardiac response to hypobaric hypoxia: persistent changes in cardiac mass, function, and energy metabolism after a trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp.
We postulated that changes in cardiac high-energy phosphate metabolism may underlie the myocardial dysfunction caused by hypobaric hypoxia. Healthy volunteers (n=14) were studied immediately before, and within 4 d of return from, a 17-d trek to Mt. Everest Base Camp (5300 m). (31)P magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy was used to measure cardiac phosphocreatine (PCr)/ATP, and MR imaging and echocardiography were used to assess cardiac volumes, mass, and function. Immediately after returning from Mt. Everest, total body weight had fallen by 3% (P<0.05), but left ventricular mass, adjusted for changes in body surface area, had disproportionately decreased by 11% (P<0.05). Alterations in diastolic function were also observed, with a reduction in peak left ventricular filling rates and mitral inflow E/A, by 17% (P<0.05) and 24% (P<0.01), respectively, with no change in hydration status. Compared with pretrek, cardiac PCr/ATP ratio had decreased by 18% (P<0.01). Whether the abnormalities were even greater at altitude is unknown, but all had returned to pretrek levels after 6 mo. The alterations in cardiac morphology, function, and energetics are similar to findings in patients with chronic hypoxia. Thus, a decrease in cardiac PCr/ATP may be a universal response to periods of sustained low oxygen availability, underlying hypoxia-induced cardiac dysfunction in healthy human heart and in patients with cardiopulmonary diseases.
1 Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, Sherrington Bldg., University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK. cameron.holloway@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Cameron J
CJ
Holloway
Hugh E
HE
Montgomery
Andrew J
AJ
Murray
Lowri E
LE
Cochlin
Ion
I
Codreanu
Naomi
N
Hopwood
Andrew W
AW
Johnson
Oliver J
OJ
Rider
Denny Z H
DZ
Levett
Damian J
DJ
Tyler
Jane M
JM
Francis
Stefan
S
Neubauer
Michael P W
MP
Grocott
Kieran
K
Clarke
D000064:Acclimatization; D000328:Adult; D000531:Altitude; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009051:Mountaineering; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D009929:Organ Size; D010710:Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D016276:Ventricular Function / Q000502:physiology*
D010710:Phosphates