The Japanese journal of physiology
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The ventilatory response to acute systemic hypoxia has been thought to be determined by the balance between hypoxic stimulation via peripheral chemoreceptors and hypoxic inhibition of the respiratory neurons. In moderate-severe hypoxia, the latter predominates the former resulting in ventilatory "depression" (HVD). However, ventilation relative to metabolic rate (V. ⋯ The possible origin of CO2 accumulation in the venous blood, such as the buffering of lactic acid by bicarbonate, and its role in ventilatory stimulation are discussed. Since there was no large increase in V. E and metabolic rate in the post-hypoxic period, "O2 debt" during HVD was small.