Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Mar 5;10(3):e0118730.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118730. eCollection 2015.

Volume regulation and renal function at high altitude across gender

Bernd Haditsch  1 , Andreas Roessler  1 , Peter Krisper  2 , Herwig Frisch  3 , Helmut G Hinghofer-Szalkay  1 , Nandu Goswami  1
Affiliations

Volume regulation and renal function at high altitude across gender

Bernd Haditsch et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Aims: We investigated changes in volume regulating hormones and renal function at high altitudes and across gender.

Methodology: Included in this study were 28 subjects (n = 20 males; n = 8 females. ages: 19 - 65 yrs), who ascended to a height of 3440m (HA1), on the 3rd day and to 5050m (HA2), on the 14th day. Plasma and urinary creatinine and urinary osmolality as well as plasma levels of plasma renin activity (PRA), Aldosterone, antidiuretic hormone (ADH), and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) were measured. The plasma volume loss (PVL) was estimated from plasma density and hematocrit. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was measured based on nocturnal (9 hour) creatinine clearance; this was compared with various methods for estimation of GFR.

Results: The mean 24-hour urine production increased significantly in both sexes across the expedition. But PVL reached significance only in males. No changes in Na+ in plasma, urine or its fractional excretion were seen at both altitudes. Urinary osmolality decreased upon ascent to the higher altitudes. ADH and PRA decreased significantly at both altitudes in males but only at HA2 in females. However, no changes in aldosterone were seen across the sexes and at different altitudes. ANP increased significantly only in males during the expedition. GFR, derived from 9-h creatinine clearance (CreaCl), decreased in both sexes at HA1 but remained stable at HA2. Conventional Crea[p]-based GFR estimates (eGFR) showed only poor correlation to CreaCl.

Conclusions: We report details of changes in hormonal patterns across high altitude sojourn. To our knowledge we are not aware of any study that has examined these hormones in same subjects and across gender during high altitude sojourn. Our results also suggest that depending on the estimation formula used, eGFR underestimated the observed decrease in renal function measured by CreaCl, thus opening the debate regarding the use of estimated glomerular filtration rates at high altitudes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Nandu Goswami is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE Editorial policies and criteria.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Goldfarb-Rumyantzev AS, Alper SL. Short-term responses of the kidney to high altitude in mountain climbers. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2014;29: 497–506. 10.1093/ndt/gft051 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stämpfli R, Eberle A. Menge, spezifisches Gewicht und Leitfähigkeit des menschlichen Harns im Hochgebirge. Helv Physiol Pharmacol Acta Suppl. III 1944: 221–232.
    1. Hoyt RW, Honig A. Environmental influences on body fluid balance during exercise: altitude In: Buskirk ER, Puhl SM, editors. Body Fluid Balance: Sport and Exercise. New York: CRC Press; 1996: pp183–196.
    1. Bärtsch P, Pflüger N, Audetat M, Shaw S, Weidmann P, Vock P, et al. Effects of slow ascend to 4559 m on fluid homeostasis. Aviat Space Environ Med. 1991;62: 105–110. - PubMed
    1. Bartsch PS, Shaw M, Franciolli MP, Gnadinger MP, Weidmann P. Atrial natriuretic peptide in acute mountain sickness. J Appl Physiol.1988;65: 1929–1937. - PubMed

Publication types