Mice Can Sense Oxygen Through Skin

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Researchers exposed the head and bodies of the mice separately to mixtures of 10 percent oxygenabout the level found at Mt. Everestand 21 percent oxygen found at sea level. Credit: UC San Diego
Researchers exposed the head and bodies of the mice separately to mixtures of 10 percent oxygen—about the level found at Mt. Everest—and 21 percent oxygen, found at sea level. Credit: UC San Diego

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the skin of mice can sense low levels of oxygen and regulate the production of erythropoietin, or EPO, the hormone that stimulates our bodies to produce red blood cells and allows us to adapt to high-altitude, low-oxygen environments.


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