Effects of Hypoxic Exercise Training on Physiology by Metabolic Profiles in Human Biofluids

Metabolomics is defined as “the quantitative measurement of the dynamic multi-parametric metabolic responses of living systems to physiological stimuli”. With its holistic characteristics, metabolomics has been established as a powerful platform in biological sciences and found widespread applications in fundamental physiology, biomedical and environmental sciences. Metabolomic approach provides a top-down “systems level” readout of biochemistry, physiological status, and environmental exposure of individuals and populations that can prove highly tractable as they combine the gathering of systemic information for health and disease based on minimally invasive analysis with high throughput capabilities. Physical exercise is advised as the “wonder drug” to cut the risk of heart disease, make a dramatic improvement in the delivery of oxygen to our body muscles, decrease the mental anxiety and depression, and lowers the blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Further research indicated that increased physical activity is associated with decrease incidence and mortality rates for various cancers. However, the media reports also emphasized the injuries of top athletes, the potential for heat exhaustion and collapse by runners during races, which may cause from elevating the level of oxidative stress and promoting platelet activation and coagulation cascades. On the other hand, hypoxic conditions occurring at high altitude lead to acclimatization processes in responses to minimize tissue damage, such as gradually increase pulmonary ventilation, enhance oxygen transportation efficiency in circulating system, and subsequently improve physical fitness. However, hypoxic states of human tissue belong to the most frequent and dangerous diseases of modern times. They results from disturbed oxygen supply to cells, which is insufficient to meet their metabolic demands. The beneficial or detrimental effects of systematic hypoxia may vary substantially with the concentration of O2 exposure. Apparently no work has explored how hypoxia/exercise intervention affects metabolic profiles of human biofluids, and this becomes the major topics of our serial research in this proposal. We will conduct a three-year work using metabolomics as the key platform technology to (1) determine the effects of urinary and plasma metabolic profiles by hypoxia/exercise intervention; (2) identify and quantify the changes of metabolites into the biological meaningful metabolic networking correlate to hypoxia/exercise intervention; and (3) evaluate the change of metabolic profiles in response to a proper long-term hypoxia/exercise training. The results obtained from these new and complex scientific discoveries will develop suitable exercise combined environmental regimens for health-related sciences, further may present a framework for assessing studies in exercise physiology. In addition, they will provide a better understanding of exercise physiology to guide individuals wishing to attain their objectives of optimal fitness and health with minimal risk, and update the knowledge base of exercise physiology.

Project ID:PC9912-0386
External Project ID:NSC99-2410-H182-040