Download Respiration Case Study

1. What is Acute Mountain Sickness?
Acute Mountain Sickness is also known as altitude sickness. AMS is an
illness that affects people like mountain climbers or skiers at high altitudes.
2. What causes this illness?
This is caused by low oxygen levels and decreased air pressure. These
produce adverse effects from the decrease in alveolar pO2 and low oxygen
saturation. The faster you climb to a higher altitude, the more likely you are to
develop AMS.
3. What are the symptoms?
The symptoms include nausea, headache, pulmonary edema, cerebral
edema, dizziness, fatigue, and rapid heart rate. They can range from mild to lifethreatening.
4. Several changes take place in the body which enables it to cope with decreased
oxygen name at least three of them and explain how the body copes.
Your body will hyperventilate to increase the oxygen levels in the alveoli
and decrease the CO2 levels. Your body will also produce more red blood cells to
increase o2 saturation levels. The kidney secretes EPO in response to low o2
which stimulates the red bone marrow to increase the rate of erythrocyte
formation. Your body will increase your heart rate nearly double in order to get
more oxygen to the cells.
5. HAPE is High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE). What are the symptoms and
why does this occur?
Fluid builds up in the lungs preventing effective gas exchange. This leads
to low blood oxygen levels which leads to impaired cerebral function and
eventually death. Symptoms include shortness of breath, persistent cough, fatigue,
and confusion.
6. Altitude sickness can be prevented by acetazolamide. What is this drug? Explain
how it works. Does the blood become acetic or alkaline? Using the physiology for
respiration, explain.
Acetazolamide is a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor. It forces the kidneys to
excrete more bicarbonate in the urine which makes the blood more acidic. The
now acidic blood makes the body think it has an excess of CO2 and compensates
via hyperventilation and increasing breathing depth as well. Hyperventilation then
increased blood oxygen levels.
7. The renal system is compensatory for AMS, what mechanisms in the renal system
are employed? The kidney produces a higher volume of urine due to
chemoreceptors sensing low oxygen levels. It also excretes more bicarbonate to
compensate for low blood pH.