Resumen

SAN MIGUEL SIMBRON, José Luis. Principle and practice of nuclear science in health: Evaluation of total body water and body composition, in high altitude resident population, La Paz, Bolivia. Cuad. - Hosp. Clín. [online]. 2018, vol.59, n.1, pp. 75-80. ISSN 1652-6776.

Abstract Using the Nuclear Science it is possible to make use of stable isotopes, identified as tracers, which allow the application of the physiological principle of "isotopic dilution" in the organism and with it the total body water can be measured. In the studies of physiology at high altitude, the foundation that the law of conservation of masses in an organism is also applied. The practice of this method allows to generate knowledge at altitude doing the right things well, so it is effective in studies conducted in different population groups permanent inhabitants of high altitude. The nuclear technique, has allowed by means of the analysis of the deuterium in studied subjects, to establish the corporal composition, determining the percentage of the total corporal water and the body fat mass. It is estimated that permanent inhabitants of high altitude would have a body composition with a lower percentage of body water than sea level inhabitants.

Palabras llave : Isotopic dilution; deuterium,; body water; body composition; high altitude.