Respiration physiology
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Respiration physiology · Feb 1981
Carotid chemoreceptor function in ventilatory and circulatory O2 convection of exercising dogs at low and high altitude.
Awake dogs were studied before (control) and after chronic bilateral carotid denervation (denervated) at rest and running for 3 min on a treadmill at 8 km . h-1 and at various grades, in an altitude chamber operated either at 140 m or at 4000 m for 3 h. Steady-state pulmonary ventilation (Vg) and breathing pattern (VT, fR), oxygen consumption (MO2), O2 concentrations (C) and pressures (P) in the arterial (a) and mixed venous blood (v), hematocrit (Ht) and acid-base status in arterial blood, and heart frequency (fH) were measured. From these data cardiac output (Vb) and stroke volume (Vs), ventilatory and circulatory requirements (Vg/Mo2, Vb/MO2), extraction of O2 from inspired gas (EairO2) and blood (EbO2), and capacitance coefficient of blood for oxygen (beta bO2) were calculated. ⋯ At 4000 m, AP increased not significantly in controls, and decreased in denervated animals; PP increased in controls, but not in denervated dogs. It is concluded that integrity of the arterial chemoreceptor drive is essential in determining the eupneic level of ventilation and normal acid-base status of the blood in both resting and exercising dogs, at low and at high altitude, and in reducing the O2 circulatory requirement at high altitude. At 4000 m, the lack of carotid chemosensitivity is accompanied by severe hypoxemia, in association with hypercapnia and acidosis, and by increased cardiac blood flow, most presumably due to decreased peripheral resistance and increased venous return; despite these compensatory changes in circulatory O2 convective transport, denervated animals reach a maximum O2 uptake at lower work load than controls.