HAP Comic Strip

When in high elevations, your body has to Acclimate to the climate to breathe.
Our bodies compensate for this change in oxygen by hyperventilating (heavy breathing)
Low PO2 (partial pressure of oxygen) results in the release of erythroprotein or EPO to the kidneys. This will create more red blood cells
blood samples can show the hemocrit because the plasma volume is larger at high elevations and low at low elevations.
the EPO stimulates the bone marrow to produce more rbc to increase the hemoglobin in your body
More hemoglobin in your body can compensate for the lack of oxygen. This is also an example of phenoplasticity
since the Tibetans have lived in the mountains for so long, their bodies not only adapted but theyve evolved.
their bodies have evolved because the gene formation changed.
In high elevations, it is better to have less red blood cells than more. When their is many rbcs, the blood gets thick like honey.
when the blood is thinner, it can get through capillaries and oxygenate the blood.
Biologists believe that this gene change is thanks to natural selection. Which means a trait that helps survival passes on to their offsping
Having too many rbcs has a negative affect during pregnancy, raising the fetal morality rate higher.