Abstract: Objective To investigate alteration of blood routine parameters, blood gas analysis profile, coagulation function, and inflammatory factors during exposure to high-altitude hypoxic environments. Methods Rats were raised in a hypobaric oxygen chamber to simulate the altitude of 5 500 meters. The animals were divided into groups with exposure duration of 0(control), 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 28 days. Arterial blood gas was measured using a blood gas analyzer. The routine blood test was performed by an automatic five-differential animal hematology analyzer. The coagulation function was measured by a fully automatic coagulation analyzer. The level of plasma D-dimer(DD), erythropoietin (EPO), interleukin-10(IL-10), interleukin-6(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and C-reactive protein(CRP) was detected by ELISA method. The protein expression of IL-10, IL-6, and TNF-α in lung tissues of the animals was detected by Western blot. Results As compare to control group, the arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO₂) decreased at different durations of hypoxia exposure. The PaO₂ in the group exposed to hypoxia for 7 d was the lowest(P＜0.05). The red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit(HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC)and mean platelet volume (MPV)were all higher than control group(P＜0.05). Erythropoietin (EPO), prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time(APTT), thrombin time (TT), fibrinogen (FIB) and D-dimer (DD) all gradually increased(P＜0.05). The white blood cell count (WBC) and platelet count(PLT), as well as the plasma inflammatory factors including interleukin-10(IL-10), interleukin-6(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP), and the expression of inflammatory factors in the lung tissue including IL-10, IL-6 and TNF-α proteins all showed a curve of increasing at beginning and then followed by a slow decrease with the prolongation of the hypoxia time(P＜0.05). Conclusions In high-altitude hypoxic environment, the blood circulation undergoes dynamic evolution of functional remodeling with higher risk of inflammatory response. As the hypoxia time prolongs, the animals adapt the environment and the level of inflammatory cytokines gradually decline but remains at a level which is still higher than that of control animals.

Key words: high-altitude hypoxia, blood gas analysis, blood routine, coagulation function, inflammatory factor