title: Can high altitude influence cytokines and sleep?
abstract: The number of persons who relocate to regions of high altitude for work, pleasure, sport, or residence increases every year. It is known that the reduced supply of oxygen (O2) induced by acute or chronic increases in altitude stimulates the body to adapt to new metabolic challenges imposed by hypoxia. Sleep can suffer partial fragmentation because of the exposure to high altitudes, and these changes have been described as one of the responsible factors for the many consequences at high altitudes. We conducted a review of the literature during the period from 1987 to 2012. This work explored the relationships among inflammation, hypoxia and sleep in the period of adaptation and examined a novel mechanism that might explain the harmful effects of altitude on sleep, involving increased Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 β ), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- α ) production from several tissues and cells, such as leukocytes and cells from skeletal muscle and brain.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Campus São Paulo, UNIFESP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. aquino.lemos@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Valdir de Aquino
authors.initials: Vde A
authors.lastname: Lemos
authors.forename: Ronaldo Vagner Thomatieli
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: Fabio Santos
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Lira
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tufik
authors.forename: Marco Tulio
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: de Mello
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000378:metabolism; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D012890:Sleep; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D053583:Interleukin-1beta; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha