Imagine being able to explore the Earth’s oceans without needing special oxygen equipment. Loggerhead sea turtles have this ability and can actually hold their breath for up to 7 hours! According to the Guiness Book of World Records, Budimir Šobat from Croatia set the record in 2021 for being able to hold his breath for 24 minutes and 37.36 seconds underwater. While quite remarkable, he would need to hold his breath an additional 6.5 hours to come close to a sea turtle.
How sea turtles protect themselves from hypoxia-induced tissue damage was the subject of a presentation at the American Physiology Summit last month in Long Beach, California. B. Gabriela Arango, a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley working with Dr. José Pablo Vázquez-Medina, presented her research comparing how fibroblast cells from the skin of loggerhead sea turtles and land-dwelling Western fence lizards deal with low oxygen conditions – mimicking the effects of extended breath holding.
Cells from both animals responded to hypoxia by increasing the expression of hypoxia-responsive genes and altering metabolism. In both cases the cells reduced oxygen-dependent utilization of fuels when exposed to hypoxia, but the decline was slower in cells from sea turtles and the recovery in normal oxygen conditions was faster.
By understanding how sea turtles protect their bodies from hypoxia damage during long-duration dives, the researchers hope to find treatments to help prevent hypoxia-mediated tissue damage in humans and other animals.
Sources:
“Hypoxia Exposure Fine-Tunes Mitochondrial Function in Primary Dermal Fibroblasts Derived from Loggerhead Sea Turtles” presentation, Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section, 2024 American Physiology Summit, Long Beach, CA.
Categories: Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Livestock, Comparative Physiology, Environment, Extreme Animals, Hibernation and Hypoxia, Nature's Solutions, Ocean Life, Physiology on the Road
Tags: American Physiological Society, American Physiology Summit, diving, hypoxia, neuroscience, Sea turtle, stroke
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