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Blunted hypoxic ventilatory drive in adult humans with a history of premature birth
Author(s) -
Beshish Arij,
Bates Melissa L.,
Farrell Emily T.,
Pegelow David F.,
Eldridge Marlowe W.
Publication year - 2012
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.26.1_supplement.1090.11
Subject(s) - hyperoxia , hypoxia (environmental) , medicine , gestational age , anesthesia , ventilation (architecture) , chemoreceptor , hypoxic ventilatory response , respiratory system , pregnancy , lung , oxygen , biology , chemistry , mechanical engineering , receptor , organic chemistry , engineering , genetics
The hypoxic ventilatory drive (HVD) is blunted in rats exposed to 100% O 2 during the perinatal period. This has not been examined in humans. We recruited adults(n=5) born prematurely (<1500 g and <32 weeks gestational age) and given supplemental O 2 at birth and age‐matched controls (n=4) to test the hypothesis that subjects born prematurely have a diminished HVD. Subjects performed four breathing trials. In the first pair, subjects were exposed to 7 minutes of 21% and 12% O 2 with minute ventilation (V E ) and arterial blood gases measured in the last 2 minutes. As expected, we found that all control subjects increased V E in hypoxia (n=4, 0.03±0.1 L/min/ΔmmHg PO 2 ) while, surprisingly, 2/3 premature subjects decreased V E in hypoxia (−0.08±0.03 L/min/ΔmmHg PO 2 ). On a separate day, the trial was repeated with end tidal CO 2 (ETCO 2 ) in hypoxia matched to the normoxic levels. Both groups increased V E in hypoxia although the response tended to be lower in the premature group (n=5, 0.06±0.04 L/min/ΔmmHg PO 2 vs n=4, 0.08±0.02 L/min/ΔmmHg PO 2 ). Our data support the hypothesis that perinatal hyperoxia blunts the HVD in humans. Interestingly, this effect is diminished when the ETCO 2 is controlled, indicating a potential role for the central chemoreceptors. As our sample size expands, we intend to stratify our populations to determine if the duration of perinatal hyperoxia is important.