How to breed giant animals

        Breeding giant animals is a breeder’s dream, as enormous livestock would produce such benefits as more meat, more milk, and more wool. It could also produce more powerful workhorses and better racehorses. Many thoroughbred horse lovers remember the legendary Australian racehorse Phar Lap. He was a giant. His heart’s size was remarkable, weighing about 6.2 kg compared to a normal horse’s 3.2 kg. Nobody knows when another such amazing giant will be born.


       This paper will address the issue of whether it is possible to breed giant animals.

       The Russian physiologist Professor I.A. Arshavkii studied the thermodynamics of live systems, which is how effectively organisms use energy. As a sub-area of these studies he studied the influence of oxygen regimen on organisms, which involves either a lack or an excess of oxygen, at different stages of development [1]:

      “We studied the influence of mother’s chronic oxygen insufficiency on the growth and development of the fetus. We put pregnant rabbits for 2 hours daily into an altitude chamber and increased the simulated altitude to 4 km starting from 23 to 24 days after the onset of their pregnancies, when the fetus’s respiratory and cardiovascular systems already showed markedly good responses to the mother’s hypoxia. When the pregnancies reached full term such fetuses weighed 80 - 94 g instead of the normal weight of 35 - 50 g.
       When many fetuses (10-12) were in the litter, then fetal weights reached 65 - 70 g. Newborns, whether from hard births or those born by caesarean section, were characterised by well-expressed features of physiological maturity.
      “When we increased the pregnant rabbits’ daily treatment to a simulated altitude of 5 km the newborn rabbits had either normal weight or less then normal weight. Those receiving daily treatments of a simulated altitude of 7 km showed no adaptive responses and died in the uterus. Placing pregnant rabbits in a simulated altitude of from 4 km to 5 km starting from 10 to 16 days into pregnancy resulted in antenatal embryo deaths and occasional deformities.
      “It is interesting to note that in the ‘little giants,’ as we called them due to their weight being almost double the normal weight, the relative sizes of their systems remained normal, with the weight of the heart, lungs, and brain increasing in proportion to the increased total body weight.”.

        Unfortunately, Professor Arshavskii’s work in this area has been forgotten. However, other scientists have developed other applications for air with low oxygen content, supporting the benefits and safeness of this method. They have found that breathing air with low oxygen content is a method of hypoxic stimulation of the organisms, known as interrupted hypoxic training (IHT), normobaric hypoxic training, and hypoxytherapy.
        As IHT is a drug-free and almost without contraindications method, doctors utilise IHT to help patients recover from such ailments as bronchial asthma, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, obstetric and gynaecological disorders, and depression [2 - 4]. The Russian Ministry of Health has officially recommended it for medical use [5], and this method was employed to increase physical working capacity and endurance, especially in sports [6, 7]. Approximately two million patients have received this treatment over the past 30 years.
        Much literature may be found on the web sites [8] (mostly sports, including information about using of IHT for race horses training) and [9] (mostly medicine).
        Development of children born to mothers with pre-eclampsia who have been treated by normobaric hypoxia was studied [10]. A group of 100 women cured by IHT and 50 control women (given conventional treatment) were under the care. IHT was carried out at the 16 - 35 weeks of pregnancy consisted in 8 - 30 sessions. Each session included 5-minute of breathing hypoxic gas mixture (10% O2) through mask, interrupted by 5-minute breathing atmospheric air, totally 6 cycles during 1 hour. All children were under the care at birth and monthly during the first year of life. The following parameters were measured: percentage of premature births, Apgar scores, characteristics of physical and neuropsychic development, breastfeeding duration, percentage of children with allergic diathesis, hemoglobin content in child’s peripheral blood, and prevalence of acute respiratory disorders. All measured parameters were significantly better in children whose mothers had been treated by IHT.
        The efficiency of preventive use of IHT in pregnant women at high risk of developing of pre-eclampsia was studied [11]. The authors focused on a decrease in the incidence of pre-eclampsia, especially its severe patterns, and perinatal mortality.
        The use of IHT with 10% O2 not only absolutely harmless for the fetus and does not produce any unfavourable influence on the course of pregnancy and its outcome, but also accompanied by reliable increase in the mass of placenta by 26.9 – 33.2% and the mass of fetus by 8.5 – 12.2% [2]. Many other clinical data to support this harmlessness are given as well.
        The use of IHT in obstetrics was reviewed [12]. Literature data and the researcher’s own investigations showed more successful delivery, less frequent occurrence of nephropathy, fetal hypoxia, premature labor, better physical condition of newborns.
        All these findings support the benefits and safeness of the IHT.





References


1. Arshavskii IA. On the analysis of some mechanisms of transformation of an oxygen regime during ontogeny. In: Oxygen regime of an organism and its regulation. Materials of the Symposium. Kiev, 1966: 65 - 78 (In Russian).

2. Strelkov R.B. and Chizhov A.Ia. (2001) [Interrupted normobaric hypoxia in prophylaxis, treatment and rehabilitation. Ural’sky Rabochiy Publishers, Ekaterinburg, 400 p.p.] [Book in Russian]

3. Serebrovskaya T., (2002) Intermittent Hypoxia Research in the Former Soviet Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States: History and Review of the Concept and Selected Applications. High Altitude Medicine and Biology, 3, p.p. 205-221.

4. Intermittent Hypoxia: From Molecular Mechanisms To Clinical Applications. Editors: Lei Xi and Tatiana V. Serebrovskaya, 2009, NOVA SCIENCE PUBLISHERS, Hauppauge, NY.

5. Russian Ministry of Health. [Normobaric hypoxytherapy. Recommended Treatment Protocols]. Moscow, 1994 [Brochure in Russian].

6. Strelkov R.B., Karash Iu.M., Chizhov A.Ia., Kir'ianov I.Iu. and Belykh A.G., (1987) Increase in the non-specific resistance using normobaric hypoxic stimulation. Dokl Akad Nauk SSSR 293, 493-496 [Article in Russian].

7. Hamlin M.J. and Hellemans J., (2007) Effect of intermittent normobaric hypoxic exposure at rest on haematological, physiological, and performance parameters in multi-sport athletes. J Sports Sci. 25, 431-441.

8. www.go2altitude.com

9. www.bionova.ru

10. Verbonol' V.Iu. and Chizhov A.Ia., (1990) [Development of children born to mothers treated by normobaric hypoxia]. Pediatriia 5, 56-9 [Article in Russian].

11. Evgen'eva I.A., Karash Iu.M. and Chizhov A.Ia., (1989) [Preventive use of intermittent normobaric hypoxic hypoxia in pregnant women at high risk of developing late toxicosis] Akush. Ginekol. (Mosk). 6, 50-53 [Article in Russian].

12. Tsyganova TN. [Use of normobaric hypoxic training in obstetrics] Vestn Ross Akad Med Nauk 1997; 5:30-33 [Article in Russian].




FAQ

Q. You say that Prof. Arshavskii produced giant rabbit offspring. How can I be sure that I can get a giant horse by using such a hypoxic method?

A. The general laws of nature are common for all mammals, so you can produce giant offspring with any mammal using this method. This does not mean that you will achieve such results instantly, but it is probably reasonable to expect to achieve them incrementally, with each generation showing a modest increase of from 10% to 20%, with the results by the third or fourth generation being substantial.



Q. You say that Prof. Arshavskii produced giant rabbit offspring. How can I be sure that it was not dangerous for the mother or the fetus?

A. The health authorities in several countries now recognise the use of IHT with humans as a drug-free, almost contraindication-free method of hypoxic stimulation and officially recommend it for help in recovering from such ailments as bronchial asthma, insomnia, cardiovascular disease, obstetric and gynaecological disorders, and depression and to increase physical working capacity and endurance, especially in sport. Doctors have treated about two million patients with it over the past 30 years.
        Numerous studies have found that treating pregnant women with pre-eclampsia with IHT using 10% O2 does not harm fetuses or produce any unfavourable effects on the course of pregnancy and birth but significantly increases placental mass by 26.9 - 33.2 and fetal weight by 8.5 - 12.2%.



Q. You say that Prof. Arshavskii used an altitude chamber with his rabbits. An altitude chamber for my horses would probably cost a million dollars!

A. Yes, altitude chambers are expensive, but there is no need to use them, as you can apply IHT with the use of masks at normal atmospheric pressure. IHT equipment is already being used for training racehorses and can also be used for mares in foal.



Q. You indicate that Prof. Arshavskii’s research revealed a relatively simple way to breed giant animals. If it’s so simple why has nobody yet used it to breed giant horses, cows, or sheep?

A. Prof. Arshavskii was an outstanding scientist. His principal research interest was the thermodynamics of live systems. The study of organisms’ oxygen regimens at different stages of development is a sub-field of the study of such thermodynamics. Finding these changes in the size of the offspring of the animals he studied was one of his research’s outcomes, but not its aim. No studies have yet produced findings in regard to using IHT with pregnant mares or other animals. This is not due to doubts about the possibility of breeding giant animals, only that nobody has yet tried to do it.