Hypocapnia and sustained hypoxia blunt ventilation on arrival at high altitude

1984 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 602-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Y. Huang ◽  
J. K. Alexander ◽  
R. F. Grover ◽  
J. T. Maher ◽  
R. E. McCullough ◽  
...  

Hypoxia at high altitude stimulates ventilation, but inhibitory influences in the first days after arrival limit the ventilatory response. Possible inhibitory influences include hypocapnia and depression of ventilation during sustained hypoxia. Our approach was to compare hypoxic ventilatory responses at low altitude with ventilation at high altitude. In 12 subjects we compared responses both to isocapnic hypoxia and poikilocapnic (no CO2 added) hypoxia during acute (less than 10 min) and sustained (30 min) hypoxia in Denver (1,600 m) with ventilations measured on each of 5 days on Pikes Peak (4,300 m). On Pikes Peak, day 1 ventilation [minute ventilation = 10.0 1/min, BTPS; arterial O2 saturation (Sao2) = 82%] was less than predicted by either acute isocapnic or poikilocapnic tests. However, sustained poikilocapnic hypoxia (Sao2 approximately = 82%) in Denver yielded ventilation similar to that on Pikes Peak on day 1. By Pikes Peak days 4 and 5, endtidal PCO2, pHa, and Sao2 approached plateaus, and ventilation (12.4 1/min, BTPS) on these days was as predicted by the acute isocapnic test. Thus the combination of hypocapnia and sustained hypoxia may have blunted the ventilatory increase on Pikes Peak day 1 but apparently not after 4 or 5 days of acclimatization.

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 1157-1163 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Georgopoulos ◽  
S. Walker ◽  
N. R. Anthonisen

In adult humans the ventilatory response to sustained hypoxia (VRSH) is biphasic, characterized by an initial brisk increase, due to peripheral chemoreceptor (PC) stimulation, followed by a decline attributed to central depressant action of hypoxia. To study the effects of selective stimulation of PC on the ventilatory response pattern to hypoxia, the VRSH was evaluated after pretreatment with almitrine (A), a PC stimulant. Eight subjects were pretreated with A (75 mg po) or placebo (P) on 2 days in a single-blind manner. Two hours after drug administration, they breathed, in succession, room air (10 min), O2 (5 min), room air (5 min), hypoxia [25 min, arterial O2 saturation (SaO2) = 80%], O2 (5 min), and room air (5 min). End-tidal CO2 was kept constant at the normoxic base-line values. Inspiratory minute ventilation (VI) and breathing patterns were measured over the last 2 min of each period and during minutes 3–5 of hypoxia, and nadirs in VI were assessed just before and after O2 exposure. Independent of the day, the VRSH was biphasic. With P and A pretreatment, early hypoxia increased VI 4.6 +/- 1 and 14.2 +/- 1 (SE) l/min, respectively, from values obtained during the preceding room-air period. On A day the hypoxic ventilatory decline was significantly larger than that on P day, and on both days the decline was a constant fraction of the acute hypoxic response.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


1993 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 1552-1558 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Okabe ◽  
W. Hida ◽  
Y. Kikuchi ◽  
H. Kurosawa ◽  
J. Midorikawa ◽  
...  

To examine the effects of sustained hypoxia on upper airway and chest wall muscle activity in humans, we measured genioglossus muscle (GG) activity, inspiratory intercostal muscle (IIM) activity, and ventilation during sustained hypoxia in 17 normal subjects and 17 patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The trial of sustained hypoxia was performed as follows: after an equilibration period of 3 min, isocapnic hypoxia (arterial O2 saturation = 80 +/- 2%) was maintained for 20 min. GG EMG was measured with a fine-wire electrode inserted percutaneously, and IIM EMG was measured with surface electrodes. Ventilatory response to sustained hypoxia was initially increased and subsequently decreased. Stable phasic GG activity during spontaneous tidal breathing was observed in 6 normal subjects and 10 patients with OSA. Responses of GG and IIM activities to sustained hypoxia showed a biphasic response qualitatively similar to the ventilatory response in these 16 subjects. The absolute value of the subsequent decline in GG activity was similar to that of the initial increase, whereas the subsequent decline in IIM activity was smaller than that of the initial increase. Percent GG activity was significantly lower than both percent IIM activity and percent minute ventilation during the decline and plateau phases. There were no significant differences in ventilatory and EMG responses between the normal subjects and the patients with OSA. We conclude that, during wakefulness, upper airway muscle activity declined to a greater extent than inspiratory pump muscle activity during sustained hypoxia.


1986 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 906-911 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Easton ◽  
L. J. Slykerman ◽  
N. R. Anthonisen

We examined the ventilatory response to moderate (arterial O2 saturation 80%), sustained, isocapnic hypoxia in 20 young adults. During 25 min of hypoxia, inspiratory minute ventilation (VI) showed an initial brisk increase but then declined to a level intermediate between the initial increase and resting room air VI. The intermediate level of VI was a plateau that did not change significantly when hypoxia was extended up to 1 h. The relation between the amount of initial increase and subsequent decrease in ventilation during constant hypoxia was not random; the magnitude of the eventual decline correlated confidently with the degree of initial hyperventilation. Evaluation of breathing pattern revealed that during constant hypoxia there was little alteration in respiratory timing and that the changes in VI were related to significant alterations in tidal volume and mean inspiratory flow (VT/TI). None of the changes was reproduced during a sham control protocol, in which room air was substituted for the period of low fractional concentration of inspired O2. We conclude that ventilatory response to hypoxia in adults is not sustained; it exhibits some biphasic features similar to the neonatal hypoxic response.


1988 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 1268-1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. H. Hackett ◽  
R. C. Roach ◽  
R. B. Schoene ◽  
G. L. Harrison ◽  
W. J. Mills

We wished to determine the role of hypoxic chemosensitivity in high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) by studying persons when ill and upon recovery. We studied seven males with HAPE and seventeen controls at 4,400 m on Mt. McKinley. We measured ventilatory responses to both O2 breathing and progressive poikilocapnic hypoxia. Hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) was described by the slope relating minute ventilation to percent arterial O2 saturation (delta VE/delta SaO2%). HAPE subjects were quite hypoxemic (SaO2% 59 ± 6 vs. 85 ± 1, P less than 0.01) and showed a high-frequency, low-tidal-volume pattern of breathing. O2 decreased ventilation in controls (-20%, P less than 0.01) but not in HAPE subjects. The HAPE group had low HVR values (0.15 ± 0.07 vs. 0.54 ± 0.08, P less than 0.01), although six controls had values in the same range. The three HAPE subjects with the lowest HVR values were the most hypoxemic and had a paradoxical increase in ventilation when breathing O2. We conclude that a low HVR plays a permissive rather than causative role in the pathogenesis of HAPE and that the combination of extreme hypoxemia and low HVR may result in hypoxic depression of ventilation.


1993 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1916-1920 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Y. Cao ◽  
M. Berthon-Jones ◽  
C. E. Sullivan ◽  
C. W. Zwillich

In humans the ventilatory [minute ventilation (VI)] response to sustained hypoxia is biphasic: an initial brisk increase followed by a decline is usually seen. However, in adult dogs, the ventilatory response to a similar stimulus shows no decline. To evaluate if central ventilatory drive is altered by sustained hypoxia, we measured the lowest ventilation (nadir) as the lowest moving average of seven sequential breaths within 200 s after transition to hyperoxia (100% O2) after 3 different exposures: room air, 4-min (brief) eucapnic hypoxia (arterial O2 saturation = approximately 80%), and 12-min (prolonged) eucapnic hypoxia. The nadir hyperoxic VI after brief hypoxia (2.7 +/- 0.2 l/min) was similar to that after room air (2.6 +/- 0.2 l/min; P > 0.05), with both less than prior room air mean VI (P < 0.05). The nadir after prolonged hypoxia (3.5 +/- 0.3 l/min) was significantly greater than that after brief hypoxia (P < 0.05). This suggests that central ventilatory drive increases in conscious dogs after sustained eucapnic hypoxia. The reason for the difference in central ventilatory response to hypoxia between conscious dogs and adult humans is unexplained.


1987 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 1100-1106 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Nishimura ◽  
A. Suzuki ◽  
Y. Nishiura ◽  
H. Yamamoto ◽  
K. Miyamoto ◽  
...  

To assess the effect of brain blood flow on hypoxic ventilatory response, we measured arterial and internal jugular venous blood gases and ventilation simultaneously and repeatedly in eight healthy male humans in two settings: 1) progressive and subsequent sustained hypoxia, and 2) stepwise and progressive hypercapnia. Ventilatory response to progressive isocapnic hypoxia [arterial O2 partial pressure 155.9 +/- 4.0 (SE) to 46.7 +/- 1.5 Torr] was expressed as change in minute ventilation per change in arterial O2 saturation and varied from -0.16 to -1.88 [0.67 +/- 0.19 (SE)] l/min per % among subjects. In the meanwhile, jugular venous PCO2 (PjCO2) decreased significantly from 51.0 +/- 1.1 to 47.3 +/- 1.0 Torr (P less than 0.01), probably due to the increase in brain blood flow, and stayed at the same level during 15 min of sustained hypoxia. Based on the assumption that PjCO2 reflects the brain tissue PCO2, we evaluated the depressant effect of fall in PjCO2 on hypoxic ventilatory response, using a slope for ventilation-PjCO2 line which was determined in the second set of experiments. Hypoxic ventilatory response corrected with this factor was -1.31 +/- 0.33 l/min per %, indicating that this factor modulated hypoxic ventilatory response in humans. The ventilatory response to progressive isocapnic hypoxia did not correlate with this factor but significantly correlated with the withdrawal test (modified transient O2 test), which was performed on a separate day. Accordingly we conclude that an increase in brain blood flow during exposure to moderate hypoxia may substantially attenuate the ventilatory response but that it is unlikely to be the major factor of the interindividual variation of progressive isocapnic hypoxic ventilatory response in humans.


1983 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 874-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. P. White ◽  
N. J. Douglas ◽  
C. K. Pickett ◽  
J. V. Weil ◽  
C. W. Zwillich

Previous investigation has demonstrated that progesterone, a hormone found in premenopausal women, is a ventilatory stimulant. However, fragmentary data suggest that normal women may have lower ventilatory responses to chemical stimuli than men, in whom progesterone is found at low levels. As male-female differences have not been carefully studied, we undertook a systematic comparison of resting ventilation and ventilatory responses to chemical stimuli in men and women. Resting ventilation was found to correlate closely with CO2 production in all subjects (r = 0.71, P less than 0.001), but women tended to have a greater minute ventilation per milliliter of CO2 produced (P less than 0.05) and consequently a lower CO2 partial pressure (PCO2) (men 35.1 +/- 0.5 Torr, women 33.2 +/- 0.5 Torr; P less than 0.02). Women were also found to have lower tidal volumes, even when corrected from body surface area (BSA), and greater respiratory frequency than comparable males. The hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) quantitated by the shape parameter A was significantly greater in men [167 +/- 22 (SE)] than in women (109 +/- 13; P less than 0.05). In men this hypoxic response was found to correlate closely with O2 consumption (r = 0.75, P less than 0.001) but with no measure of size or metabolic rate in women. The hypercapnic ventilatory response, expressed as the slope of ventilation vs. PCO2, was also greater in men (2.30 +/- 0.23) than in women (1.58 +/- 0.19, P less than 0.05). Finally women tended to have higher ventilatory responses in the luteal than in the follicular menstrual phase, but this was significant only for HVR (P less than 0.05). Women, with relatively higher resting ventilation, have lower responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia.


1989 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 1152-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Matsuzawa ◽  
K. Fujimoto ◽  
T. Kobayashi ◽  
N. R. Namushi ◽  
K. Harada ◽  
...  

It has been proposed that subjects susceptible to high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) show exaggerated hypoxemia with relative hypoventilation during the early period of high-altitude exposure. Some previous studies suggest the relationship between the blunted hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) and HAPE. To examine whether all the HAPE-susceptible subjects consistently show blunted HVR at low altitude, we evaluated the conventional pulmonary function test, hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR), and hypercapnic ventilatory response (HCVR) in ten lowlanders who had a previous history of HAPE and compared these results with those of eight control lowlanders who had no history of HAPE. HVR was measured by the progressive isocapnic hypoxic method and was evaluated by the slope relating minute ventilation to arterial O2 saturation (delta VE/delta SaO2). HCVR was measured by the rebreathing method of Read. All measurements were done at Matsumoto, Japan (610 m). All the HAPE-susceptible subjects showed normal values in the pulmonary function test. In HCVR, HAPE-susceptible subjects showed relatively lower S value, but there was no significant difference between the two groups (1.74 +/- 1.16 vs. 2.19 +/- 0.4, P = NS). On the other hand, HAPE-susceptible subjects showed significantly lower HVR than control subjects (-0.42 +/- 0.23 vs. -0.87 +/- 0.29, P less than 0.01). These results suggest that HAPE-susceptible subjects more frequently show low HVR at low altitude. However, values for HVR were within the normal range in 2 of 10 HAPE-susceptible subjects. It would seem therefore that low HVR alone need not be a critical factor for HAPE. This could be one of several contributing factors.


2004 ◽  
Vol 97 (5) ◽  
pp. 1673-1680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Morelli ◽  
M. Safwan Badr ◽  
Jason H. Mateika

We hypothesized that the acute ventilatory response to carbon dioxide in the presence of low and high levels of oxygen would increase to a greater extent in men compared with women after exposure to episodic hypoxia. Eleven healthy men and women of similar race, age, and body mass index completed a series of rebreathing trials before and after exposure to eight 4-min episodes of hypoxia. During the rebreathing trials, subjects initially hyperventilated to reduce the end-tidal partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PetCO2) below 25 Torr. Subjects then rebreathed from a bag containing a normocapnic (42 Torr), low (50 Torr), or high oxygen gas mixture (150 Torr). During the trials, PetCO2 increased while the selected level of oxygen was maintained. The point at which minute ventilation began to rise in a linear fashion as PetCO2 increased was considered to be the carbon dioxide set point. The ventilatory response below and above this point was determined. The results showed that the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide above the set point was increased in men compared with women before exposure to episodic hypoxia, independent of the oxygen level that was maintained during the rebreathing trials (50 Torr: men, 5.19 ± 0.82 vs. women, 4.70 ± 0.77 l·min−1·Torr−1; 150 Torr: men, 4.33 ± 1.15 vs. women, 3.21 ± 0.58 l·min−1·Torr−1). Moreover, relative to baseline measures, the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide in the presence of low and high oxygen levels increased to a greater extent in men compared with women after exposure to episodic hypoxia (50 Torr: men, 9.52 ± 1.40 vs. women, 5.97 ± 0.71 l·min−1·Torr−1; 150 Torr: men, 5.73 ± 0.81 vs. women, 3.83 ± 0.56 l·min−1·Torr−1). Thus we conclude that enhancement of the acute ventilatory response to carbon dioxide after episodic hypoxia is sex dependent.


1994 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 313-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Sato ◽  
J. W. Severinghaus ◽  
P. Bickler

Hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) and hypoxic ventilatory depression (HVD) were measured in six subjects before, during, and after 12 days at 3,810-m altitude (barometric pressure approximately 488 Torr) with and without 15 min of preoxygenation. HVR was tested by 5-min isocapnic steps to 75% arterial O2 saturation measured by pulse oximetry (Spo2) at an isocapnic PCO2 (P*CO2) chosen to set hyperoxic resting ventilation to 140 ml.kg-1.min-1. Hypercapnic ventilatory response (HCVR, 1.min-1.Torr-1) was tested at ambient and high SPO2 6–8 min after a 6- to 10-Torr step increase of end-tidal PCO2 (PETCO2) above P*CO2. HCVR was independent of preoxygenation and was not significantly increased at altitude (when corrected to delta logPCO2). Preoxygenated HVR rose from -1.13 +/- 0.23 (SE) l.min-1.%SPO2(-1) at sea level to -2.17 +/- 0.13 by altitude day 12, without reaching a plateau, and returned to control after return to sea level for 4 days. Ambient HVR was measured at P*CO2 by step reduction of SPO2 from its ambient value (86–91%) to approximately 75%. Ambient HVR slope was not significantly less, but ventilation at equal levels of SPO2 and PCO2 was lower by 13.3 +/- 2.4 l/min on day 2 (SPO2 = 86.2 +/- 2.3) and by 5.9 +/- 3.5 l/min on day 12 (SPO2 = 91.0 +/- 1.5; P < 0.05). This lower ventilation was estimated (from HCVR) to be equivalent to an elevation of the central chemoreceptor PCO2 set point of 9.2 +/- 2.1 Torr on day 2 and 4.5 +/- 1.3 on day 12.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


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