Consumption of probiotic SLAB51 enhances ventilatory acclimatization to high altitude

Abstract

Ventilatory acclimatization to hypoxia (VAH) is crucial for adjusting to physiologically stressful high-altitude environments. Increased ventilatory and cardiac responses to low-oxygen (O2) may partially mitigate deleterious effects at high altitude. Previous studies show that administration of the probiotic SLAB51 (O2booster; Hecto, Seoul, South Korea) improves O2 saturation in patients suffering from COVID-19 and O2-treated prematurely born babies. Since changes in ventilation may contribute to increase O2 saturation, we hypothesize that acute administration of SLAB51 to sojourners traveling to high altitude will increase respiratory responses to hypoxia. We measured minute ventilation (VI) and heart rate (HR) during normoxia and acute isocapnic hypoxia in 17 healthy participants (9 males, 8 females) of Latino ancestry with residence at sea level in San Diego and surrounding areas. We performed control experiments at sea level and then the participants were taken to White Mountain Barcroft Station (12,470ft / 3,800m) to repeat the measurements. At high altitude, the participants underwent a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with administration of placebo (n=8) or SLAB51 probiotic (n=9) up to three times per day for up to four days. Recordings of physiological parameters were obtained during steady-state at different gas mixtures with continuous monitoring of O2 saturation to target 10% desaturation during the acute hypoxia stimulus. We measured hypoxic ventilatory and heart rate responses (HVR and HHRR, respectively) and compared results between placebo and probiotic groups (mean ± SEM). As expected, high altitude increased VI and HR values compared to sea-level measurements in all participants. However, at high altitude, we found a significant increase of VI (p<0.02) in participants consuming SLAB51 (0.275+0.015 L/min per Kg) when compared to those administered with placebo (0.207±0.025 L/min per Kg) during exposure to acute hypoxia. Administration of SLAB51 did not produce differences in HR responses at high altitude, and HVR and HHRR were not significantly different with SLAB51 treatment. Our results show that consumption of the probiotic SLAB51 increases ventilatory responses to hypoxia at high altitude without affecting hypoxia-induced changes in HR, suggesting that SLAB51 probiotic intervention may contribute to ventilatory acclimatization to hypoxia, although future studies are required to determine the mechanisms underlying this potential response. Supported by LEA Altitude Performance Fund. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.