title: Carotid chemoreceptors do not mediate hypoxic-induced gasping and autoresuscitation in newborn rats.
abstract: Experiments were carried out on 48, 5-6-day-old rat pups to investigate the influence of carotid denervation on their time to last gasp during a single period of hypoxia, and on their ability to autoresuscitate from primary apnea during repeated hypoxic challenge. One group of pups was studied with intact carotid chemoreceptors and one group was studied following surgical denervation of the carotid chemoreceptors. Carotid denervation eliminated the early tachypneic phase during exposure to hypoxia and delayed the time to arousal/excitement but did not alter the time to primary apnea, the time to last gasp or the total number of gasps during exposure to a single period of unrelenting hypoxia. Furthermore, carotid denervation did not alter the number of successful autoresuscitations from primary apnea during repeated hypoxic exposure. Thus, the carotid chemoreceptors are not essential for the initiation or maintenance of gasping nor are they are integral to gasping effecting successful autoresuscitation from hypoxic-induced apnea in newborn rats.
authors.affiliation: Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary Health Sciences Centre, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4 N1, Canada.
authors.forename: Rongzhi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lun
authors.affiliation: Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary Health Sciences Centre, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4 N1, Canada.
authors.forename: Chunfen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary Health Sciences Centre, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4 N1, Canada. Electronic address: fewell@ucalgary.ca.
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Fewell
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001049:Apnea / Q000209:etiology*; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D003714:Denervation / Q000009:adverse effects; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000150:complications*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; D012151:Resuscitation; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Autoresuscitation; Carotid chemoreceptors; Hypoxic-induced gasping