Survival in severe hypoxia such as occurs in high altitude requires previous acclimatization, which is acquired over a period of days to weeks. It was unknown whether intrinsic mechanisms existed that could be rapidly induced and could exert immediate protection on unacclimatized individuals against acute hypoxia. We found that mice pretreated with whole-body hypoxic preconditioning (WHPC, 6 cy...

Normal brain function is highly dependent on oxygen and nutrient supply and when the demand for oxygen exceeds its supply, hypoxia is induced. Acute episodes of hypoxia may cause a depression in synaptic activity in many brain regions, whilst prolonged exposure to hypoxia leads to neuronal cell loss and death. Acute inadequate oxygen supply may cause anaerobic metabolism and increased respirati...

Ischemic cardiac injury can be substantially alleviated by exposing the heart to pharmacological agents such as volatile anesthetics before occurrence of ischemia/reperfusion. A hallmark of this preconditioning phenomenon is its memory, when cardioprotective effects persist even after removal of preconditioning stimulus. Since numerous studies pinpoint mitochondria as crucial players in protect...

Hypoxia preconditioning of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been shown to promote wound healing through HIF-1α stabilization. Preconditioned MSCs can be applied to three-dimensional biomaterials to further enhance the regenerative properties. While environmentally induced hypoxia has proven difficult in clinical settings, this study compares the wound healing capabilities of adipose derived (A...

Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) have been used in tissue repair and regeneration. Recently, it was reported that ASC transplantation promotes hair growth in animal experiments, and a conditioned medium of ASCs (ASC-CM) induced the proliferation of hair-compositing cells in vitro. However, ASCs and their conditioned medium have shown limited effectiveness in clinical settings. ASC precondition...

Stem cells have emerged as promising tools for the treatment of incurable neural and heart diseases and tissue damage. However, the survival of transplanted stem cells is reported to be low, reducing their therapeutic effects. The major causes of poor survival of stem cells in vivo are linked to anoikis, potential immune rejection, and oxidative damage mediating apoptosis. This review investiga...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic and intermittent hypoxia on myocardial morphology. METHODS Rats randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 14 per group) were exposed to room air (Fio(2) = 0.21), chronic hypoxia (Fio(2) = 0.10), and intermittent hypoxia (chronic hypoxia with 1 hour per day of room air) for 2 weeks. Weight, blood gas analysis, hematocrit...

Preconditioning refers to a procedure by which a single noxious stimulus below the threshold of damage is applied to the tissue in order to increase resistance to the same or even different noxious stimuli given above the threshold of damage. Hypoxic preconditioning relies on complex and active defenses that organisms have developed to counter the adverse consequences of oxygen deprivation. The...

Hypoxic preconditioning of stem cells and neural progenitor cells has been tested for promoting cell survival after transplantation. The present investigation examined the hypothesis that hypoxic preconditioning of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) could not only enhance their survival but also reinforce regenerative properties of these cells. BMSCs from eGFP engineered rats or pre-lab...