Respiratory physiology & neurobiology
-
Respir Physiol Neurobiol · Oct 2016
Respiratory autoresuscitation following severe acute hypoxemia in anesthetized adult rats.
In the present study we investigated the pattern and efficacy of respiratory autoresuscitation in spontaneously breathing adult male rats across three separate anesthetic backgrounds. Each animal was administered one of three injectable anesthetics to achieve a surgical plane of anesthesia: ketamine-xylazine (KET, n=10), pentobarbital (PEN, n=10), or urethane (URE, n=10). Animals were tracheostomized and equipped with a femoral artery catheter to record airflow and arterial pressures. ⋯ Ketamine-xylazine and pentobarbital anesthesia can be reliably and effectively used to create models for the study of autoresuscitation in adult rats. In contrast, urethane causes catastrophic failure of respiratory autoresuscitation, by delaying or outright preventing the elaboration of gasping breaths following anoxia-induced respiratory arrest. The neuronal and synaptic alterations accompanying urethane anesthesia may therefore provide a means of understanding potential pathological alterations in rhythm generation that can predispose the respiratory control system to failed autoresuscitation following an episode of acute severe hypoxemia.