On October 29, the research group at the Hypobaria and Biomedical Physiology Service at Biopol'H, published in the Journal of Translational Medicine their first scientific paper on new applications of the hypobaric chamber in the biomedical field.

The article entitled "Combined intermittent hypoxia and surface muscle electrostimulation as a method to increase peripheral blood progenitor cell concentration" describes an initial experiment aimed at determining whether short-term intermittent hypoxia exposure, at a level well tolerated by healthy humans, could mobilize hematopoietic stem cells and increase their presence in peripheral circulation.

The conclusions of the article show that only three sessions with the combination of exposure to hypobaric hypoxia (simulated altitude of 5000m) and muscular electrostimulation in healthy humans contribute significantly to the release of hematopoietic stem cells in blood, a finding that provides an interesting tool to start using the hypobaric chamber located at Biopol'H for biomedical purposes.

The Hypobaria and Biomedical Physiology Service is composed of researchers from the Department of Physiology-Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona; Department of Physiological Sciences II of the same university and the Service of Intensive Care at the University Hospital of Bellvitge. Its activity is focused on the field of adaptive responses to intermittent hypoxia exposure. Researchers from the Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalunya have also contributed to this work.

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