High altitude mice make efficient use of little oxygen

TORONTO - Mice make optimum use of little oxygen at high altitudes during exercise, according to Canadian and Peruvian scientists, who are keen to establish whether a similar strategy exists in humans that have evolved at high altitudes.

“Andean mouse species have independently evolved a strategy to maximise energy yield when little oxygen is available,” explain lead researchers Marie-Pierre Schippers and Grant McClelland from McMaster University, Canada.

These findings were presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Prague.

The work was done in collaboration with Peruvian scientists, Oswaldo Ramirez and Margarita Arana, from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia.