Using hypoxia adaptations in marine mammals to understand COVID-19

News-Medical talks to Professor Terrie Williams about how looking at the diving physiology that enables marine mammals to withstand low oxygen conditions can improve our understanding of the effects of COVID-19

What physiological adaptations enable marine mammals to tolerate low oxygen levels?
The list seems to be endless for marine mammals. This work has involved national and international scientists for decades, and we are still discovering new ways in which marine mammals are able to protect their tissues when oxygen is unavailable.

I put a partial table of the discoveries in our paper to give readers a sense of the incredible suite of hypoxia-related adaptations found in seals and whales. It begins with onboard storage of oxygen within oxygen-sensitive tissues, especially the brain and locomotor and cardiac muscles.

Marine mammals have up to 10 times the amount of oxygen-carrying myoglobin within their muscles compared to a dog or a human.

But there is so much more, for example, enhanced buffering capacities if tissues go anaerobic, spleens that can sequester oxygenated red blood cells, and dive responses to reduce tissue metabolic demands all help avoid hypoxia-related damage. It is remarkable, and a testament to what is necessary for protecting the most vital organs of the body from oxygen deprivation.
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