The 5th Annual BREATHE Workshop was held via Zoom on May 10, 2022.
"Plasticity in the reflex control of breathing: impacts of environmental exposures and systemic inflammation"
The reflexes that control our breathing are the body's first defense for maintaining oxygen delivery and carbon dioxide excretion. Despite the key role these respiratory reflexes play in maintaining physiological homeostasis, they are highly variable within, and across, individuals. Environmental stressors, genetic factors, and cardiopulmonary diseases all influence these reflexes. However, we are still exploring the mechanisms by which these changes occur. Recently, links between systemic inflammation and changes in the ventilatory responses to hypoxia have been suggested. Therefore, we aimed to determine if the expression of specific inflammatory biomarkers predicted characteristics of the ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia. Additionally, we conducted a high-altitude exposure study to determine if expression of these inflammatory markers was associated with plasticity in these respiratory reflexes during chronic hypoxic stress. Our results support a relationship between an individual's systemic inflammatory status and their acute ventilatory chemoreflex sensitivity to carbon dioxide. These findings support the potential role of inflammation in modulating, and potentially destabilizing, breathing patterns. Improved Understanding of Composition and Sources of Aerosols in an Environmental Justice (EJ) Community in Long Beach, California
18 май 2022
