title: Effects of chronic acid-base changes on the rebreathing hypercapnic ventilatory response in man.
abstract: The CO2 rebreathing method can be very useful to test the hypercapnic ventilatory response in patients, including those with chronic acid-base changes (e.g. chronic metabolic acidosis due to renal failure). The ventilatory response to hypercapnia (CO2-R) was measured in 4 normal men by the rebreathing method under control conditions (CaCO3: 0.1 g.kg-1.day-1) and with induced metabolic acidosis (NH4Cl: 0.3 g.kg-1.day-1) and alkalosis (NaHCO3: 0.7 g.kg-1.day-1). The slope of the CO2-R did not change as a result of the acid-base alterations, but was shifted to the left of normal by metabolic acidosis, and to the right by metabolic alkalosis. These results compare favorably with previous reports on the CO2-R as measured by the steady-state technique, and validate the rebreathing method as a reliable and useful technique for evaluating CO2-R in man with altered acid-base states.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, UCLA/San Fernando Valley Medical Program, VA Medical Center, Sepulveda, Calif.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oren
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Whipp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wasserman
mesh_terms: D000136:Acid-Base Equilibrium; D000328:Adult; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006935:Hypercapnia / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide