Carbon dioxide response curves during hypothermia.

The responsiveness of the medullary chemoreceptors, measured by the ventilatory response to hypercapnia given in an hyperoxic gas mixture in intact anesthetized dogs has been evaluated during normothermia and at two levels of hypothermia. The response was studied in: 1) 20 dogs during normothermia, 2) 10 of these dogs at a blood temperature of 32-33 degrees C, and 3) in the other 10 dogs during deeper hypothermia (28-29 degrees C). The ventilatory response to CO2 decreased while blood temperature was lowered until the response became absent during deep hypothermia. For normothermia and both levels of hypothermia a similar oxygen drive of ventilation was found which was equivalent to approximately one fourth of the spontaneous ventilation. It is suggested, that in the deeply hypothermic animal the normal respiratory drive is apparently of peripheral (arterial) chemoreceptor origin and when this drive is nullified or significantly decreased, gentle shivering could be responsible for stimulating the respiratory center.