Ventilatory response to sustained hypoxia in normal adults

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.

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.


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 253 (6) ◽  
pp. R854-R860 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Colby ◽  
D. L. Kilgore ◽  
S. Howe

The effects of hypoxia, hypercapnia, and hypoxic hypercapnia on ventilation, and breathing pattern in adult and nestling bank swallows (Riparia riparia) were assessed. The CO2 threshold above which inhaled minute volume (VI) increased significantly in adults and nestlings was 0.045. At each level of fractional concentration of inspired CO2 (FICO2), ventilation in nestlings was lower than that in adults. At a FICO2 of 0.09, VI of adults increased by 284%, whereas VI in nestlings changed 238%. Adult bank swallows also showed a blunted ventilatory response to hypoxia, and the nestling's response was similar to other birds. Adults exhibited greater changes in VI at all levels of hypoxic hypercapnia compared with nestlings. Combined hypoxic and hypercapnic stimuli had an additive effect on ventilation in both groups. Chronic exposure of nestlings to the hypercapnia and hypoxia within burrows seems to significantly alter their ventilatory response to these respiratory stimuli.


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)


1998 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 612-619. ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Cartwright ◽  
Lindsey C. Henson ◽  
Denham Ward

Background The ventilatory response to acute hypoxia is biphasic, with an initial rapid increase followed by a slower decline. In humans, there is evidence that the magnitude of the decline in ventilation is proportional to the size of the initial increase. This study was done to define the role of exogenous opioids in the ventilatory decline seen with prolonged hypoxia. Methods Ten healthy persons were exposed to isocapnic hypoxia for 25 min, followed by 5 min of isocapnic normoxia and 5 min of isocapnic hypoxia. These conditions were repeated during a computer-controlled alfentanil infusion. Results Serum alfentanil levels were constant among the volunteers (38+/-12 ng/ml). Alfentanil decreased both the initial and second acute hypoxic responses (from 1.27+/-0.73 to 0.99+/-0.39 l x min(-1) x %(-1), P &lt; 0.05; and from 0.99+/-0.70 to 0.41+/-0.29 l x min(-1) x %(-1), P &lt; 0.05, respectively). The magnitude of the decrease in ventilation during the 25 min of hypoxia was not changed (10+/-3.3 l/min for control; 12.3+/-7.5 l/min for alfentanil). Conclusions Alfentanil reduced the acute ventilatory response to hypoxia. The absolute value of hypoxic ventilatory decline was not increased, but a measure of residual hypoxic ventilatory decline (the ratio of ventilation between the second and first steps into hypoxia) was decreased, which supports the hypothesis that opioids potentiate centrally mediated ventilatory decline.


2000 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
pp. 1907-1914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean M. Robinson ◽  
Henry Kwok ◽  
Brandon M. Adams ◽  
Karen C. Peebles ◽  
Gregory D. Funk

We examined developmental changes in breathing pattern and the ventilatory response to hypoxia (7.4% O2) in unanesthetized Swiss CD-1 mice ranging in age from postnatal day 0 to 42(P0–P42) using head-out plethysmography. The breathing pattern of P0 mice was unstable. Apneas were frequent at P0 (occupying 29 ± 6% of total time) but rare by P3 (5 ± 2% of total time). Tidal volume increased in proportion to body mass (∼10–13 ml/kg), but increases in respiratory frequency (f) (55 ± 7, 130 ± 13, and 207 ± 20 cycles/min for P0, P3, and P42, respectively) were responsible for developmental increases in minute ventilation (690 ± 90, 1,530 ± 250, and 2,170 ± 430 ml ⋅ min− 1 ⋅ kg− 1for P0, P3, and P42, respectively). Between P0 and P3, increases in f were mediated by reductions in apnea and inspiratory and expiratory times; beyond P3, increases were due to reductions in expiratory time. Mice of all ages showed a biphasic hypoxic ventilatory response, which differed in two respects from the response typical of most mammals. First, the initial hyperpnea, which was greatest in mature animals, decreased developmentally from a maximum, relative to control, of 2.58 ± 0.29 in P0 mice to 1.32 ± 0.09 in P42mice. Second, whereas ventilation typically falls to or below control in most neonatal mammals, ventilation remained elevated relative to control throughout the hypoxic exposure in P0 (1.73 ± 0.31), P3 (1.64 ± 0.29), and P9 (1.34 ± 0.17) mice but not in P19 or P42 mice.


1988 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 1451-1456 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Easton ◽  
N. R. Anthonisen

We examined the interrelation between CO2 and the ventilatory response to moderate (80% arterial saturation) sustained hypoxia in normal young adults. On a background of continuous CO2-stimulated hyperventilation, hypoxia was introduced and sustained for 25 min. Initially, with the introduction of hypoxia onto hypercapnia, there was a brisk additional increase in inspiratory minute ventilation (VI) to 284% of resting VI, but the response was not sustained and hypoxic VI declined by 36% to a level intermediate between the initial increase and the preexisting hypercapnic hyperventilation. Through the continuous hypercapnia, the changes in hypoxic ventilation resulted from significant alterations in tidal volume (VT) and mean inspiratory flow (VT/TI) without changes in respiratory timing. In another experiment, sustained hypoxia was introduced on the usual background of room air, either with isocapnia or without maintenance of end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2) (poikilocapnic hypoxia). Regardless of the degree of maintenance of ETCO2, during 25 min of sustained hypoxia, VI showed an initial brisk increase and then declined by 35-40% of resting VI to a level intermediate between the initial response and resting room air VI. For both isocapnia and poikilocapnic conditions, the attenuation of VI was an expression of a diminished VT. Thus the decline in ventilation with sustained hypoxia occurred regardless of the background ETCO2, suggesting that the mechanism underlying the hypoxic decline is independent of CO2.


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.


1988 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 1445-1450 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Easton ◽  
N. R. Anthonisen

During sustained hypoxia the decline in ventilation that occurs in normal adult humans may be related to central accumulation of a neurochemical with net inhibitory effect. Recent investigations have shown that the putative neurotransmitter adenosine can effect a prolonged respiratory inhibition. Therefore we evaluated the possible role of adenosine in the hypoxia ventilatory decline by employing aminophylline as an adenosine blocker. We evaluated the ventilatory response to 25 min of sustained hypoxia (80% arterial O2 saturation), in eight young adults after pretreatment with either intravenous saline or aminophylline. With a mean serum aminophylline level of 15.7 mg/l, over 25 min of sustained hypoxia, peak hypoxic ventilation decreased by only 12.8% compared with 24.8% with saline, a significant difference. However, the ventilatory decline during sustained hypoxia was not abolished by the aminophylline pretreatment. Unlike the usual tidal volume-dependent attenuation of hypoxic ventilation exhibited after saline, after aminophylline the ventilatory decline was achieved predominantly through alterations in respiratory timing. Thus aminophylline pretreatment did alleviate the hypoxic ventilatory decline, although the associated alterations in breathing pattern were uncharacteristic. We conclude that adenosine may play a contributing role in the hypoxic ventilatory decline.


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