title: Dynamics of the ventilatory response to hypoxia in humans.
abstract: Dynamic responses of the ventilatory system to rapid variations in isocapnic hypoxia were studied in five subjects. Sawtooth-shaped inputs were presented at constant amplitude with periods of 120, 90, 60, 45 and 30 sec, and square-wave inputs at different amplitudes with periods of 120, 60 and 30 sec. A breath-by-breath model fitting technique was used to assess whether any of a number of first order models of hypoxic ventilatory dynamics could fit the data adequately. The following was found: 1) An equation for the desaturation of haemoglobin provided a better expression for hypoxia in the model than did a hyperbolic function of PO2. 2) The gain and/or offset model parameters varied significantly between experiments, but the time constant and pure delay terms did not. 3) The time constants, and to a lesser extent the pure delays, were found to vary significantly between sawtooth experiments of different frequencies. The failure of a single set of dynamic parameters to describe all the responses suggests that the model is incomplete. 4) There was significant asymmetry in the hypoxic response with the on-transient dynamics faster than the off-transient dynamics. The results of the model fitting study suggest that a first order model cannot fully describe the hypoxic ventilatory dynamics.
authors.affiliation: University Laboratory of Physiology, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Clement
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Robbins
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D010313:Partial Pressure; D012119:Respiration; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide