BIOL 3P30 Lecture : Hypoxia and Anoxia.docx

• School: Brock University
• Department: Biological Sciences
• Course: BIOL 3P30
• Professor: Jeff Stuart

Document Summary

Anoxia: complete absence of o2- very hard to achieve. At high altitude- a lot of systemic responses that avoid this problem- changes to ventilation and heart rate, increased capillary density in highly oxidized tissue. Heart is not on here but it would be about the same as the brain. The higher the rate of metabolism the more oxygen flow, the less the survival time there is in hypoxic condition. Adipose tissue could be down near the bottom as well. Lactate dehydrogenase activity- skeletal muscles are better at this. Store glucose as glycogen to use in cases like this- able to run anaerobic respiration. Humans and other mammals and also birds (endothermic vertebrates) are obligate aerobes. There is always a cellular demand for o2. Adaptation to tolerate the suspension of breathing (apnea) in diving marine mammals and birds. A lot of these animals can survive a long time without oxygen.