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Departments of 1 Pediatrics, 2 Medicine, and 3 Anatomy, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Premature infants respond to hypercapnia by an
attenuated ventilatory response that is characterized by a decrease in
respiratory frequency. We hypothesized that this impaired
hypercapnic ventilatory response is of central origin and is mediated
via
-aminobutyric acid-ergic (GABAergic) pathways. We therefore
studied two groups of maturing Sprague-Dawley rats: unrestrained rats
in a whole body plethysmograph at four postnatal ages (5, 16-17,
22-23, and 41-42 days); and ventilated, decerebrate,
vagotomized, paralyzed rats in which phrenic nerve responses to
hypercapnia were measured at 4-6 and 37-39 days of age. In
the unrestrained group, the increase in minute ventilation induced by
hypercapnia was significantly lower at 5 days vs. beyond 16 days.
Although there was an increase in tidal volume at all ages, frequency
decreased significantly from baseline at 5 days, whereas it increased
significantly at 16-17, 22-23, and 41-42 days. The
decrease in frequency at 5 days of age was mainly due to a significant
prolongation in expiratory duration
(TE). In the ventilated group,
hypercapnia also caused prolongation in
TE at 4-6 days but not at
37-39 days of age. Intravenous administration of bicuculline
(GABAA-receptor blocker) abolished the prolongation of TE in
response to hypercapnia in the newborn rats. We conclude that newborn
rat pups exhibit a characteristic ventilatory response to
CO2 expressed as a centrally
mediated prolongation of TE that
appears to be mediated by GABAergic mechanisms.
carbon dioxide response; infant; premature; chemosensitivity; development;
-aminobutyric acid; control of breathing
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