Hi all,
Greetings from Lakeland, FL! We live near the east coast of FL, so we evacuated inland. My thoughts are with any of you affected by Dorian. Stay safe!
We learned last week that nitric oxide (NO) is a critical in areas of tissue hypoxia (see review here). With that in mind, what happens when we purposefully induce hypoxia via intermittent hypoxic (IH) training (Principle 3)?
Intermittent hypoxia increases production and storage of nitric oxide
In this study, mice were gradually adapted to an altitude of ~5000 m over a 40-day period.
After acclimation, their NO metabolites (nitrite and nitrate) increased significantly.
This indicated that either (1) more NO was being generated or (2) NO was being released from storage.
However, the mice also increased their NO storage considerably.
The increase in NO storage correlated significantly with the increase in NO metabolites.
All together, these results indicate that adaptation to intermittent hypoxia increases NO production and storage.
The storage rate was higher than the production rate, which was likely a protective mechanism to ensure that blood pressure did not drop too low. However, the large storage also ensured that NO could be readily released if needed, highlighting yet another benefit of adaptation to hypoxia and intermittent hypoxia training.
In good breath,
Nick
P.S. Speaking of IH training, here’s a shot of me wearing the Oxygen Advantage® Sports Mask at the teacher training last week. Yes, I look like Bane, but it adds a lot of resistance to each breath, which helps improve CO2 tolerance, increases breathing muscle strength, and allows me to drop into hypoxia easier.