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Doublet and triplet gasps in urethane‐anesthetized neonatal rat
Author(s) -
Poole Oneica Neicola,
Yu Hui Jing,
Warren Kelly,
Solomon Irene C.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.955.11
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , chemistry , biology , paleontology
Previous studies have indicated that unusual gasp patterns (i.e., two or three closely spaced successive gasps termed ‘doublet’ and ‘triplet’ gasps) can be observed in infants with SIDS and non‐SIDS conditions during agonal respiration. Here, we characterize the presence of doublet and triplet gasps recorded in spontaneously breathing urethane‐anesthetized neonatal rats in response to anoxia. Since a marked difference in the number of doublet gasps was recorded in P0‐P6 versus P7‐P12 neonatal rats (P=0.004), the data were divided into two groups. For each group, the total number of gasps was similar (P0–P6, n=133±14 gasps; P7–P12, n=118±16 gasps; P=0.5); however, the incidence of doublet gasps far exceeded that of triplet gasps, with 24±4 vs 2±1 (P<0.001) in P0–P6 rats and 5±1 vs 1±0.4 (P=0.048) in P7–P12 rats. In addition, the latency to the appearance of doublet gasps was longer in P0–P6 vs P7 to P12 rats (431±61 s vs. 161±26 s from the onset of the anoxic gas; P=0.005); the latency to anoxia‐induced gasping was similarly different between the two groups. Our data demonstrate that neonatal rats are capable of producing both doublet and triplet gasps in response to anoxic conditions and that there is a greater likelihood of eliciting doublet rather than triplet gasps. The difference in the number of these unusual gasps between groups suggests that younger neonatal rats are more susceptible to alternate gasping patterns.