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The aims of this study were to determine 1) whether ventilatory adaptation occurred over a 5-day exposure to a constant elevation in end-tidal PCO2 and 2) whether such an exposure altered the sensitivity of the chemoreflexes to acute hypoxia and hypercapnia. Ten healthy human subjects were studied over a period of 13 days. Their ventilation, chemoreflex sensitivities, and acid-base status were measured daily before, during, and after 5 days of elevated end-tidal PCO2 at 8 Torr above normal. There was no major adaptation of ventilation during the 5 days of hypercapnic exposure. There was an increase in ventilatory chemosensitivity to acute hypoxia (from 1.35 +/- 0.08 to 1.70 +/- 0.07 l/min/%; P < 0.01) but no change in ventilatory chemosensitivity to acute hypercapnia. There was a degree of compensatory metabolic alkalosis. The results do not support the hypothesis that the ventilatory adaptation to chronic hypercapnia would be much greater with constant elevation of alveolar PCO2 than with constant elevation of inspired PCO2, as has been used in previous studies and in which the feedback loop between ventilation and alveolar PCO2 is left intact.

Original publication

DOI

10.1152/japplphysiol.00548.2003

Type

Journal article

Journal

J Appl Physiol (1985)

Publication Date

11/2003

Volume

95

Pages

1947 - 1954

Keywords

Acid-Base Equilibrium, Adult, Alkalosis, Atmosphere Exposure Chambers, Capillaries, Carbon Dioxide, Carotid Body, Chemoreceptor Cells, Humans, Hypercapnia, Hypoxia, Lung, Oxygen, Respiratory Mechanics