Cardiovascular adaptation to hypoxia and the role of peripheral resistance
Andrew S Cowburn,
David Macias,
Charlotte Summers,
Edwin R Chilvers,
Randall S Johnson
Affiliations
Andrew S Cowburn
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
David Macias
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Charlotte Summers
Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
Systemic vascular pressure in vertebrates is regulated by a range of factors: one key element of control is peripheral resistance in tissue capillary beds. Many aspects of the relationship between central control of vascular flow and peripheral resistance are unclear. An important example of this is the relationship between hypoxic response in individual tissues, and the effect that response has on systemic cardiovascular adaptation to oxygen deprivation. We show here how hypoxic response via the HIF transcription factors in one large vascular bed, that underlying the skin, influences cardiovascular response to hypoxia in mice. We show that the response of the skin to hypoxia feeds back on a wide range of cardiovascular parameters, including heart rate, arterial pressures, and body temperature. These data represent the first demonstration of a dynamic role for oxygen sensing in a peripheral tissue directly modifying cardiovascular response to the challenge of hypoxia.
