Effect of Hypoxia Exercise on Erythrocyte Aggregability

Pathological erythrocyte aggregation reduces capillary perfusion and oxygen transfer to tissue. The aggregation is determined by opposing forces, the repulsive force between cells, cell-to-cell adhesion induced by plasma fibrinogen, and the disaggregating shear force generated by blood flow. The investigators investigate how hypoxic exercise affects intrinsic/extrinsic factors of aggregation. Sixty sedentary males were randomly assigned into either hypoxic (HE; FiO2=15%, n=20) or normoxic (NE; FiO2=21%, n=20) training groups for 30 min·d-1, 5 d·wk-1 for 6 weeks at 60% of maximum work rate or to a control group (CTL; n=20). A hypoxia exercise test (HET, FiO2=12%) was performed before and after the intervention. The erythrocyte aggregation, binding affinity of fibrinogen and membrane biomarkers were determined by an ektacytometry and flow cytometry, respectively.