Extreme blood-boosting capacity of an Antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment
Blood doping, the practice of boosting the oxygen carrying capacity of blood, is an illegal strategy used by human athletes to enhance aerobic capacity and athletic performance. Interestingly, the practice of boosting blood oxygen carrying capacity is also naturally prevalent in the animal kingdom v...
Published in: | Journal of Experimental Biology |
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jexbio:223/2/jeb218164 2023-05-15T14:05:17+02:00 Extreme blood-boosting capacity of an Antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment Brijs, Jeroen Axelsson, Michael Rosengren, Malin Jutfelt, Fredrik Gräns, Albin 2020-01-27 01:14:52.0 text/html http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/223/2/jeb218164 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.218164 en eng The Company of Biologists Ltd http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/223/2/jeb218164 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.218164 Copyright (C) 2020, Company of Biologists RESEARCH ARTICLE TEXT 2020 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.218164 2020-02-05T07:15:34Z Blood doping, the practice of boosting the oxygen carrying capacity of blood, is an illegal strategy used by human athletes to enhance aerobic capacity and athletic performance. Interestingly, the practice of boosting blood oxygen carrying capacity is also naturally prevalent in the animal kingdom via the splenic release of stored erythrocytes. Here, we demonstrate that an Antarctic notothenioid fish, the bald notothen ( Pagothenia borchgrevinki ), is a master of this practice. Because of the sub-zero environment these fish inhabit, they sequester a large proportion of erythrocytes in the spleen during times of inactivity to reduce the energetic and physiological costs associated with continuously pumping highly viscous blood around the body. However, in response to metabolically demanding situations (i.e. exercise and feeding), these fish contract the spleen to eject stored erythrocytes into circulation, which boosts blood oxygen carrying capacity by up to 207% (cf. exercise-induced increases of ∼40–60% in a range of other vertebrates and ∼5–25% in blood-doping athletes). By evaluating cardiorespiratory differences between splenectomized (unable to release erythrocytes from the spleen) and sham-operated individuals, we demonstrate the metabolic benefits (i.e. aerobic scope increase of 103%) and the cardiovascular trade-offs (i.e. ventral aortic blood pressure and cardiac workload increase of 12% and 30%, respectively) associated with the splenic blood-boosting strategy. In conclusion, this strategy provides bald notothens with an extraordinary facultative aerobic scope that enables an active lifestyle in the extreme Antarctic marine environment, while minimizing the energetic and physiological costs of transporting highly viscous blood during times of reduced energetic demand. Text Antarc* Antarctic HighWire Press (Stanford University) Antarctic Journal of Experimental Biology |
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English |
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RESEARCH ARTICLE |
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RESEARCH ARTICLE Brijs, Jeroen Axelsson, Michael Rosengren, Malin Jutfelt, Fredrik Gräns, Albin Extreme blood-boosting capacity of an Antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment |
topic_facet |
RESEARCH ARTICLE |
description |
Blood doping, the practice of boosting the oxygen carrying capacity of blood, is an illegal strategy used by human athletes to enhance aerobic capacity and athletic performance. Interestingly, the practice of boosting blood oxygen carrying capacity is also naturally prevalent in the animal kingdom via the splenic release of stored erythrocytes. Here, we demonstrate that an Antarctic notothenioid fish, the bald notothen ( Pagothenia borchgrevinki ), is a master of this practice. Because of the sub-zero environment these fish inhabit, they sequester a large proportion of erythrocytes in the spleen during times of inactivity to reduce the energetic and physiological costs associated with continuously pumping highly viscous blood around the body. However, in response to metabolically demanding situations (i.e. exercise and feeding), these fish contract the spleen to eject stored erythrocytes into circulation, which boosts blood oxygen carrying capacity by up to 207% (cf. exercise-induced increases of ∼40–60% in a range of other vertebrates and ∼5–25% in blood-doping athletes). By evaluating cardiorespiratory differences between splenectomized (unable to release erythrocytes from the spleen) and sham-operated individuals, we demonstrate the metabolic benefits (i.e. aerobic scope increase of 103%) and the cardiovascular trade-offs (i.e. ventral aortic blood pressure and cardiac workload increase of 12% and 30%, respectively) associated with the splenic blood-boosting strategy. In conclusion, this strategy provides bald notothens with an extraordinary facultative aerobic scope that enables an active lifestyle in the extreme Antarctic marine environment, while minimizing the energetic and physiological costs of transporting highly viscous blood during times of reduced energetic demand. |
format |
Text |
author |
Brijs, Jeroen Axelsson, Michael Rosengren, Malin Jutfelt, Fredrik Gräns, Albin |
author_facet |
Brijs, Jeroen Axelsson, Michael Rosengren, Malin Jutfelt, Fredrik Gräns, Albin |
author_sort |
Brijs, Jeroen |
title |
Extreme blood-boosting capacity of an Antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment |
title_short |
Extreme blood-boosting capacity of an Antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment |
title_full |
Extreme blood-boosting capacity of an Antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment |
title_fullStr |
Extreme blood-boosting capacity of an Antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Extreme blood-boosting capacity of an Antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment |
title_sort |
extreme blood-boosting capacity of an antarctic fish represents an adaptation to life in a sub-zero environment |
publisher |
The Company of Biologists Ltd |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/223/2/jeb218164 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.218164 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_relation |
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/short/223/2/jeb218164 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.218164 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2020, Company of Biologists |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.218164 |
container_title |
Journal of Experimental Biology |
_version_ |
1766277103169306624 |