A group of researchers set up an experiment that showed that hypoxia does not impair oxidative metabolism in muscles during microgravity.
An international team of scientists was interested in a more complex question: what will happen to muscles in microgravity? More precisely: does hypoxia in this case affect oxidative metabolism? The experiment showed that no, but the results are easy to dispute.
Hypoxia, a decrease in oxygen in the body, can affect muscle function - this statement was tested in an experiment conducted by scientists from Germany, Sweden, Slovenia and other countries. It was attended by 11 men. None of them were athletes and had never competed in professional sports championships before. All of them went through three different stages in a random order: bed rest with normoxia (standard oxygen concentration in the environment), bed rest with hypoxia, and outpatient confinement with little exercise during hypoxia. Each phase lasted 21 days and was separated from the others by a break of four months. During bed rest, volunteers were forbidden to move - this, according to scientists, corresponded to the conditions of microgravity.
After each stage, the participants performed a single knee extension exercise. Scientists assessed the work of mitochondria using ex vivo respirometry, that is, outside the body. According to them, hypoxia did not worsen the readings obtained during bed rest in comparison with the control group. The researchers believe the data will help understand how muscles behave in microgravity on Mars, and will improve the training of astronauts in the future.
Indicators of deoxygenation in muscles in the first two minutes of exercise / The Physiological Society.
Experts from the research program The Planetary Habitat Simulation Study suggested that it is possible that hypoxia does not affect the muscles during local exercise. However, with the work of the whole body and the cardiovascular system, problems associated with a lack of oxygen can also appear.
Alexey Evglevsky