New environmental chamber to investigate the body's response to stress

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New environmental chamber to investigate the body's response to stress

18 Jun 2005 Medical News Today

A new research tool will allow University of Oregon scientists to

replicate an extreme range of environmental conditions in their quest

to test and understand the human body's response to everyday

stresses.

The instrument, called an environmental chamber, is a 12-foot-square

room capable of simulating altitude up to 18,000 feet, holding

temperature constant at a set point between 14 and 122 degrees

Fahrenheit, and controlling humidity anywhere from 10 to 95 percent.

The chamber is so finely tuned that it can swing from the coldest to

hottest setting in 30 minutes.

" The presence of the environmental chamber at the University of

Oregon will assure the next generation of researchers is well versed

in both cutting-edge molecular methods and in traditional

integrative, exercise, and environmental physiology. " said

Halliwill, an assistant professor of human physiology. His research

includes a special focus on sleep apnea which can set the stage for

high blood pressure.

Halliwill, who also studies factors responsible for changes in blood

flow to various regions of the body, co-directs the university's

Exercise and Environmental Physiology Laboratories with Minson,

an associate professor of human physiology.

Minson said the chamber fast-tracks the university's clinical

research program in cardiology, a partnership with PeaceHealth's

Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene. About 40 physicians volunteer

their expertise by teaching and assisting with research in the human

physiology labs.

" The chamber allows us to monitor minute changes in the vascular and

respiratory systems of subjects both at rest and when exercising, "

Minson explained. " It's already opening up new realms for our

research mission. "

One example of the chamber's potential is enhancing researchers'

ability to explore fatigue. " Physical and mental fatigue may not be

commonly perceived as work hazards, but fatigue often is a

fundamental cause of accidents and injuries, " Minson said.

Minson's work, which pertains to a range of disease conditions such

as diabetes, involves uncovering the neural and vascular interactions

in the skin during environmental heat stress. In the effort to

understand why young women are more susceptible to fainting than men,

he also studies how estrogen and progesterone influence blood

pressure regulation.

Minson is the winner of a 2005 American Physiology Society's

Outstanding Young Investigator Award (his second since 2000) and a

similar national honor conferred in 2000 by the American College of

Sports Medicine.

In addition to their well-established research programs, Halliwill

and Minson share a strong commitment to training future researchers

in environmental physiology. Currently, about 40 graduate students

are enrolled in the Department of Human Physiology, which also has

roughly 400 undergraduate majors. (The department, previously known

as Exercise and Movement Science, underwent a name change in July

2004.)

" In this current day of rapid discovery in genetics and cellular

biology, it is more important than ever that some attention be

focused on the research-training of individuals who will make sense

of the explosion of available information by connecting these

discoveries to integrative physiological functions in the intact

human being, " Halliwill said.

A $250,000 Department of Defense grant and a $50,000 gift from Dave

and Petrone of San Mateo, Calif. funded construction of the

chamber. Major studies currently underway in the University of Oregon

Department of Human Physiology are funded by the National Institutes

of Health and the American Heart Association.

University of Oregon

http://uonews.uoregon.edu