The effects of hypoxia on slow-wave sleep (SWS) and of SWS on respiratory responses to hypoxia were investigated on rats provided with chronically implanted cortical electrodes. 2. During the daytime (5-7 hr periods) the proportion of time spent in SWS was 45% (S.E. +/- 1.0%) when the rats breathed air. Exposure to 10% O2 (equivalent to 18,000 ft.) reduced this proportion to 27% (S.E. +/- 2.5%). During hypoxia the intensity of e.e.g. activity in SWS (mean, rectified slow-wave voltage) rarely equalled the normal values characteristic of the same rats in fully developed SWS breathing air. The normal pattern of 5-15 min episodes of SWS was changed by hypoxia to a series of brief (2-3 min) incompletely developed episodes. 3. Addition of CO2 to inspired gas failed to prevent the reduction of SWS during hypoxia. CO2 in normal O2 did not alter sleep significantly. The effects of hypoxia on sleep therefore depend upon changes in O2 pressure rather than upon changes in CO2. 4. The effect of SWS on respiration of rats breathing air was to decrease frequency and minute volume by 10-20%. In hypoxia, however, the frequency increased markedly when the animals entered SWS ; minute volume was not significantly changed. It follows that stimulation of breathing by hypoxia is greater during SWS than during wakefulness. 5. The anomalous increase of respiratory frequency when hypoxic rats entered SWS was abolished by addition of CO2 to the hypoxic gas mixture. 6. Steady-state gaseous metabolism (Vo2 Vco2) was decreased 18 +/- 3% during hypoxia and was increased 31 +/- 4% during exposure to 5% CO2. The implications of these changes for interpretation of respiratory responses to O2 and CO2 are discussed.
