Nitric Oxide Aids in the Survival of High Altitude Dwellers

Increased nitric oxide (NO) level is the reason why Tibetans are able to live and thrive at altitudes around 14,000 feet while others strain to take enough oxygen in order to function.

High levels of the said compound travel around the blood in an assortment of forms. Nitric oxide also enables the production of physiological mechanisms that instigates increased blood flow. As such, maintenance of oxygen delivery is possible despite the low levels of oxygen in the environment and in the bloodstream, a condition which is called hypoxia.

Through the research done by scientists from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic, it was found out that Tibetans have ten times more nitric oxide in their blood as compared to low altitude dwellers. Furthermore, residents of Tibet have more than double of the forearm blood flow compared to that of low-altitude dwellers. Another interesting finding is that Tibetans consume oxygen at normal rates despite their low arterial oxygen content that is caused by the high altitude environment of low barometric pressure.

This occurrence led the researchers to question how such can happen, as relayed by Cynthia Beall, the S. Idell Pyle Professor of Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University. For twenty years, Beall has been one of the leading researchers of the world in the studies of high altitude adaptation in numerous populations in Ethiopia, South America, and Tibet.

Beall gathered blood samples from the forearms of 88 Tibetans and recorded their blood flow readings during a 2002 research trip that was financed by the National Science Foundation. Such data of blood flow and samples of blood were brought back to the United States. Serpil Erzurum, chair of pathobiology of Cleveland Clinic and the paper’s lead author, analyzed the information that Beall was able to collect. In the laboratory of Erzurum, Allison Janocha, a Case Western Reserve graduate, carried out several of the technically challenging analyses.

In order to compare the results from the analyses done on the blood samples of high altitude dwellers, data must also be collected from low altitude dwellers. The researchers gathered the information on the blood flow and blood samples from 50 near sea-level dwellers in the United States, who took part in the research of the General Clinical Research Center at the Cleveland Clinic. The combined increase in nitric oxide and blood flow levels have caused the double amount of oxygen that is being delivered to the capillary beds in the arms of Tibet dwellers.

A method of observing the flow of blood, as regulated by nitric oxide, is the live blood cell analysis or live blood analysis. By definition, live blood analysis is the observation and examination of live blood cells with the aid of a high resolution darkfield compound microscope. This method of surveillance is commonly known as darkfield microscopy.

Live blood analysis starts with taking a blood sample through a tiny pin prick on the fingertip. Then, such single drop of blood sample is positioned under a specially adapted microscope, known as the darkfield compound microscope. A darkfield compound microscope is a high powered instrument that is outfitted with a darkfield condenser. This feature of a darkfield compound microscope is responsible for illuminating biological samples from the sides, not from the below. With the help of an attached camera, a darkfield compound microscope is connected to a video screen for better viewing. The image seen on the video screen is the 20,000 times enlargement of the tiny blood sample. Since the blood is still alive, incidents can be observed such as that of yeasts, molds, bacteria, parasites, immune system activity, allergies, hormonal imbalances, sugar intolerances, to name a few.M