Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol 58, Issue 4 1170-1175, Copyright © 1985 by American Physiological Society
Hyperventilation-induced changes of the blood picture
M. Staubli, U. P. Stauble, U. Waber and P. W. Straub
In a controlled study of 11 male volunteers the following changes (means
+/- SD) were observed in venous blood during (D) and 75 min after (A) a
period of 20 min of voluntary hyperventilation in comparison with before
(B) hyperventilation (P values referring to the difference between D and B)
erythrocyte count 5.18 +/- 0.17 X 10(6) (B), 5.70 +/- 0.21 X 10(6) (D) (P
less than 0.001), and 5.18 +/- 0.16 X 10(6)/microliter (A); hemoglobin 15.7
+/- 0.6 (B), 17.2 +/- 0.7 (D) (P less than 0.001), and 15.8 +/- 0.6 g/dl
(A); centrifuged hematocrit 46.6 +/- 1.0 (B), 50.4 +/- 1.7 (D) (P less than
0.001), and 47.0 +/- 1.8% (A). The platelets increased from 159 +/- 30 X
10(3) (B) to 205 +/- 40 X 10(3) (D) (P less than 0.001) and returned to 157
+/- 26 X 10(3)/microliter (A). The leukocytes (WBC) were 4,210 +/- 630 (B),
6,220 +/- 1,660 (D) (P less than 0.001), and 6,190 +/- 1,870/microliter (A)
(P less than 0.002, as compared with B). The rise of WBC during
hyperventilation was mainly due to a 83% increase of lymphocytes, whereas a
93% increase of neutrophil leukocytes accounted for the increased WBC 75
min posthyperventilation. The increase of the ratio of band forms to
segmented neutrophils from 9 (B) to 19% (A) (P less than 0.01) indicates
that band forms were released from the bone marrow. The results show that
WBC and platelets can be mobilized by hyperventilation by as yet
unidentified mechanisms.
