The elephant seal’s adaptation to life underwater could help develop drugs to combat an incurable lung disease, a study published in the journal Nature has shown. American Journal of Physiology-Editorial, Integrative and Comparative Physiology (Am J Physiol).
Scientists analysed blood samples from three elephant seals and 14 experienced divers. Some divers can learn to hold their breath for up to ten minutes after long and dangerous training. Northern elephant seals live almost underwater, rising to breathe every 90 minutes.
The analysis found that elephant seals had higher levels of carboxyhemoglobin, a hemoglobin that is linked to carbon monoxide, because of their adaptation to life underwater. Similar levels in humans cause symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning: nausea and dizziness. The seals’ blood acidity was also more stable under the same oxygen-deprived conditions as the volunteer divers.
In the future, this discovery could form the basis for treating lung diseases such as edema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
“It is unclear at this stage whether the study will advance understanding of the disease. However, investigating the mechanisms that enable a person to adapt to oxygen deprivation is an important scientific goal,” the authors noted.
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