ORIGINAL ARTICLE THE OLFACTORY SYSTEM REGULATES ACUTE MOUNTAIN SICKNESS

OBJECTIVE: Hyperventilation is the first response to hypoxia in high altitude (HA). Our study on rats was designed to establish an integrated hypothesis to include hyperventilation, increased activity of hypothalamic- pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) in response to initial exposure to hypoxia and failure of adaptation to stress in olfactory bulbectomised rats.. METHODS: Albino rats whose olfactory lobes were removed were subjected to hypoxia and hypothermic conditions. Blood and urine samples were collected at various stages to measure biochemical parameters. Rats whose olfactory systems were intact were used as controls. RESULTS: The results suggested that the olfactory system regulated pituitary function and that in rats whose olfactory lobes were removed failed to adapt to the stress created by hypoxia and hypothermia. CONCLUSIONS: Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is a type of stress. Normal rats when subjected to stress such as AMS are abl