ascorbic-acid and Altitude-Sickness

In vitro evidence has identified that coagulation is activated by increased oxidative stress, though the link and underlying mechanism in humans have yet to be established. We conducted the first randomised controlled trial in healthy participants to examine if oral antioxidant prophylaxis alters the haemostatic responses to hypoxia and exercise given their synergistic capacity to promote free radical formation. Systemic free radical formation was shown to increase during hypoxia and was further compounded by exercise, responses that were attenuated by antioxidant prophylaxis. In contrast, antioxidant prophylaxis increased thrombin generation at rest in normoxia, and this was normalised only in the face of prevailing oxidation. Collectively, these findings suggest that human free radical formation is an adaptive phenomenon that serves to maintain vascular haemostasis.. In vitro evidence suggests that blood coagulation is activated by increased oxidative stress although the link and underlying mechanism in humans have yet to be established. We conducted the first randomised controlled trial to examine if oral antioxidant prophylaxis alters the haemostatic responses to hypoxia and exercise. Healthy males were randomly assigned double-blind to either an antioxidant (n = 20) or placebo group (n = 16). The antioxidant group ingested two capsules/day that each contained 500 mg of l-ascorbic acid and 450 international units (IU) of dl-α-tocopherol acetate for 8 weeks. The placebo group ingested capsules of identical external appearance, taste and smell (cellulose). Both groups were subsequently exposed to acute hypoxia and maximal physical exercise with venous blood sampled pre-supplementation (normoxia), post-supplementation at rest (normoxia and hypoxia) and following maximal exercise (hypoxia). Systemic free radical formation (electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopic detection of the ascorbate radical (A

Topics: Adult; Altitude Sickness; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Carotenoids; Exercise; Hemostasis; Humans; Male; Thrombin; Tocopherols; Zeaxanthins

Acute mountain sickness may be caused by cerebrovascular fluid leakage due to oxidative damage to the endothelium. This may be reduced by oral antioxidant supplementation.. To assess the effectiveness of antioxidant supplementation for the prevention of acute mountain sickness (AMS).. A parallel-group double blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial.. The study was conducted in a university clinical research facility and a high altitude research laboratory. Eighty-three healthy lowland volunteers ascended to 5200 m on the Apex 2 high altitude research expedition. The treatment group received a daily dose of 1 g l-ascorbic acid, 400 IU of alpha-tocopherol acetate and 600 mg of alpha-lipoic acid (Cultech Ltd., Wales, UK) in four divided doses. Prevalence of AMS was measured using the Lake Louise Consensus score sheet (LLS). Secondary outcomes were AMS severity measured using a novel visual analogue scale, arterial oxygen saturation and pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP).. Forty-one subjects were allocated to the antioxidant group, and 42 to the placebo group. There was no difference in AMS incidence or severity between the antioxidant and placebo groups using the LLS at any time at high altitude. At the pre-determined comparison point at Day 2 at 5200 m, 69% of the antioxidant group (25/36) and 66% of the placebo group (23/35) had AMS using the LLS criteria (P = 0.74). No differences were observed between the groups for PASP, oxygen saturation, presence of a pericardial effusion or AMS assessed by VAS.. This trial found no evidence of benefit from antioxidant supplementation at high altitude.. NCT00664001.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Adolescent; Adult; alpha-Tocopherol; Altitude Sickness; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Double-Blind Method; Female; Humans; Male; Mountaineering; Statistics as Topic; Thioctic Acid; Young Adult

Hypobaric hypoxia (HH) induces oxidative stress (OS) and is associated with the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Vitamin C is an efficient antioxidant, and it is used in a high-altitude environment to reduce the OS. The present study explores the role of vitamin C on some HH-induced changes of immune parameters in rats which were exposed to HHc condition at 18,000 ft in a simulated chamber for 8 h/day for 6 days with and without vitamin C administration at three different doses (200, 400, and 600 mg/kg body wt). The phagocytic activity of circulating blood WBC was increased, and the cytotoxic activity of splenic mononuclear cell (MNC) and the delayed type of hypersensitivity (DTH) responses to bovine serum albumin (BSA) were decreased in rats exposed to HHc condition, but these immune changes were blocked after administration of vitamin C at 400 mg/kg body wt. The leukocyte adhesive inhibition index (LAI) was not altered either in HHc condition or after administration of vitamin C in HHc condition. The serum corticosterone (CORT) concentration was increased in rats exposed to HHc condition which was blocked after administration of vitamin C (400 mg/kg body wt). The immune parameters and serum CORT concentration, however, did not show any recovery after administration of vitamin C at the dose of 200 and 600 mg/kg body wt. The present study indicates that administration of vitamin C at a dose of 400 mg/kg body wt may prevent the HH-induced immunological changes but not at the lower dose (200 mg/kg body wt) or higher dose (600 mg/kg body wt) in rats.

Topics: Altitude Sickness; Animals; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Immunity, Innate; Male; Oxidative Stress; Rats; Reactive Oxygen Species

The 1910-1913 Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, was a venture of science and discovery. It is also a well-known story of heroism and tragedy since his quest to reach the South Pole and conduct research en route, while successful was also fateful. Although Scott and his four companions hauled their sledges to the Pole, they died on their return journey either directly or indirectly from the extreme physiological stresses they experienced. One hundred years on, our understanding of such stresses caused by Antarctic extremes and how the body reacts to severe exercise, malnutrition, hypothermia, high altitude, and sleep deprivation has greatly advanced. On the centenary of Scott's expedition to the bottom of the Earth, there is still controversy surrounding whether the deaths of those five men could have, or should have, been avoided. This paper reviews present-day knowledge related to the physiology of sustained man-hauling in Antarctica and contrasts this with the comparative ignorance about these issues around the turn of the 20th century. It closes by considering whether, with modern understanding about the effects of such a scenario on the human condition, Scott could have prepared and managed his team differently and so survived the epic 1,600-mile journey. The conclusion is that by carrying rations with a different composition of macromolecules, enabling greater calorific intake at similar overall weight, Scott might have secured the lives of some of the party, and it is also possible that enhanced levels of vitamin C in his rations, albeit difficult to achieve in 1911, could have significantly improved their survival chances. Nevertheless, even with today's knowledge, a repeat attempt at his expedition would by no means be bound to succeed.

Topics: Altitude Sickness; Antarctic Regions; Ascorbic Acid; Exercise; Expeditions; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Hypothermia; Male; Malnutrition; Physiology; Science; Sleep Deprivation; Stress, Physiological; Survival

Topics: Altitude Sickness; Ascorbic Acid; Endothelin-1; Humans; Hypertension, Pulmonary; Nitric Oxide; Oxidative Stress; Vitamin E

Topics: Altitude Sickness; Ascorbic Acid; Free Radical Scavengers; Humans; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; Medroxyprogesterone; Transcription Factors

Topics: Altitude Sickness; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Humans

The mixture of flavonoids (silymarin) from Carduus Marianus (0.9 mg.g-1 body weight) and/or ascorbic acid (0.4 mg.g-1 body weight) were administered in the food to 21 day-old (b.w. 35-45 g) rats for one week. Then the animals were exposed, in a hypobaric chamber, to simulated altitude 8,000-12,000 m for one hour. Mean lethal altitude was calculated by the Behrens equation: it was 10,150 m in controls, 10,550 m in ascorbic acid treated, 10,500 m in silymarin and tocopherol treated and 10,450 m in animals, receiving both ascorbic acid and silymarin. Thus silymarin protected the animals against lethality of high-altitude hypoxia. The effect of ascorbic acid and silymarin were not additive.

Topics: Altitude Sickness; Animals; Ascorbic Acid; Female; Free Radical Scavengers; Male; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Silymarin; Vitamin E

Topics: Altitude Sickness; Animals; Ascorbic Acid; Brain; Hypoxia; Male; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Superoxide Dismutase

Control (physiological saline treated) and ascorbic acid (AA) treated (1 mg.g-1 b.w. one hour before exposure) 18-day-old rats were exposed for 1 hour to high altitude in a hypobaric chamber and the mean lethal altitudes were calculated. AA displayed a protective effect, so that in two identical experiments the mean lethal altitude was 10,900 and 10,150 m in controls, while it was 11,500 and 11,450 m in AA treated animals.

Topics: Altitude Sickness; Animals; Ascorbic Acid; Rats

The structural organization of adrenal cortex has been studied in intact rats and after short-term hypoxia exposure on different altitudes (2, 6, 8, 11 km). Previously rats have been divided into 3 groups by adrenaline test for determining of vegetative reactivity type. It has been found that some histochemical and morphometric indices of adrenal cortex had peculiarities with respect to type of vegetative reactivity (width of zones, their ratio, nuclear diameter, ascorbic acid content and its distribution and other) in intact rats. Under altitude these differences form individual character of steroidogenesis and determine resistance and reactivity of organism.

Topics: Adrenal Cortex; Adrenal Cortex Hormones; Altitude; Altitude Sickness; Animals; Ascorbic Acid; Autonomic Nervous System; Epinephrine; Histocytochemistry; Male; Rats

To determine whether a rightward shift of the ODC was beneficial for short-term high-altitude adaptation, 10 drug-treated subjects were compared in a double-blind manner to 10 placebo-treated subjects after ascent from Ann Arbor, Mich. (240 m) to the top of Pike's Peak, Colo. (4300 m). Subjects were normal, male residents at 240 m in good health. Phosphate (30 mmol, t.i.d.), vitamin C (500 mg, q.i.d.), and sodium bicarbonate (1.25 mEq/kg body weight) were administered in order to elevate 2,3-DPG levels and shift ODCs to the right before the ascent so that subjects with right-shifted ODCs could be contrasted with subjects whose ODCs were not right-shifted during the first 1 to 2 days at 4300 m. After 24 hr at 4300 m, 2,3-DPG levels were higher in drug-treated than in placebo-treated subjects (19.7 +/- 0.6 mmol/gm of hemoglobin vs. 18.5 +/- 0.4; p less than 0.05 by one-tailed test), and ODC positions were different after 6 hr at high altitude (one-tailed p less than 0.01). Drug-treated subjects felt better as measured by a symptomatology questionnaire and had better central nervous system function as measured by a darkness-adaptation visual task. Performance in the two groups of subjects was the same on other visual and cognitive psychometric tests. Cardiopulmonary responses to high altitude were comparable in the two groups. The small, though significant improvement in dark adaptation and symptoms in drug-treated subjects suggests that oxygenation of the brain may have benefited from the small-shift in ODC observed. Agents with greater effect on 2,3-DPG levels are deserving of trial to determine whether they have more substantial effects on short-term responses to high altitude.

Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Adult; Altitude; Altitude Sickness; Ascorbic Acid; Bicarbonates; Diphosphoglyceric Acids; Double-Blind Method; Hemoglobins; Humans; Male; Oxygen; Phosphates