A normal, healthy, 25-year-old man lives at the beach. His twin brother has been living in a mountain cabin for the past 2 years. Which of the following indices would be expected to be higher in the man living at sea level?
A number of physiologic changes occur in a person living at high altitude. The diminished barometric pressure at high altitude causes alveolar hypoxia and aerial hypoxia. Pulmonary vasoconstriction occurs in response to alveolar hypoxia; therefore, the diameter of the pulmonary vessels would be greater in the brother living at sea level. All the other choices describe physiologic processes that would be enhanced by living at high altitude. Increased erythropoietin production, caused by aerial hypoxia, leads to increases in hematocrit in people living at high altitude. Mitochondrial density increases in people chronically exposed to the hypoxemia caused by living at high altitude. Increasing the rate of respiration is a very useful adaptation to the hypoxic conditions of high altitude. The primary stimulus is the hypoxic stimulation of peripheral chemoreceptors. Ref: Barrett K.E., Barman S.M., Boitano S., Brooks H.L. (2012). Chapter 35. Gas Transpo & pH. In K.E. Barrett, S.M. Barman, S. Boitano, H.L. Brooks (Eds),Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology, 24e.
Diameter of pulmonary vessels
Erythropoietin production
Mitochondrial density in a muscle biopsy
Respiratory rate