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Wednesday, 08 December 2021 13:31

Volunteer study: When the air gets thinner... Featured

Researchers at the University of Duisburg Essen want to investigate how the human immune system reacts to oxygen deficiency and how inflammatory reactions are influenced. For this purpose, they are working with volunteers in an altitude training chamber.


Prof. Dr. Joachim Fandrey and his team from the Institute of Physiology at the Medical Faculty of the University of Duisburg-Essen have been researching for years how the so-called hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) influences tumor development and inflammatory processes.

So far, these studies have been conducted in animal models and in vitro approaches. In order to obtain more human-relevant information, the scientists will now be working with male probands.

They will induce an inflammatory response in some of the test subjects, but not in a control group. This will be followed by a stay in a high-altitude training chamber in Essen-Rüttenscheid, Germany, in which the air oxygen content is only 11% instead of the usual 21%, which corresponds to an altitude of approximately 4,300 meters.

Several research groups from the Institute of Physiology, the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunology as well as the Clinic of Infectiology and the Clinic of Nephrology have joined forces for the project realization.

Source and further information:
https://www.uni-due.de/med/meldung.php?id=1275