Altitude Physiology EXpedition (APEX) 6

This scientific expedition from the University of Edinburgh travelled to La Paz in Bolivia and onward to a high-altitude laboratory at Huayna Potosí. The aim of the expedition was to collect physiological and genetic data from individuals exposed to moderate (3,640m at La Paz) and high-altitude (4,775m at Huayna Potosí) environments in order to improve understanding of the body’s response to hypoxia (low Oxygen levels). Over 3 days in la Paz and 8 at Huayna Potosí, the expedition team gathered data from a series of experiments investigating the effect of hypoxia on dark adaptation and retinal function, menstrual bleeding, the predictive validity of different measures of lung oxygenation function, white blood cell gene expression and neutrophil survival. Analysis of these results is expected in due course.