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1 School of Physical and Health Education, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
2 School of Physical and Health Education, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Physiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
3 Department of Physiology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Medicine, Division of Respirology and Critical Care, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
4 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wolfel{at}post.queensu.ca.
This study used a modified carbon dioxide (CO2) rebreathing procedure to examine the effect of gender on the chemoreflex control of breathing during wakefulness in healthy men (n = 14) and women (n = 14). Women were tested in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. During rebreathing trials, subjects hyperventilated to reduce the partial pressure of end-tidal CO2 (PETCO2) below 25 mmHg and were then switched to a rebreathing bag containing a normocapnic hypoxic or hyperoxic gas mixture. During the trial, PETCO2 increased while oxygen was maintained at a constant level. The point at which ventilation began to rise as PETCO2 increased was identified as the ventilatory recruitment threshold (VRT). Ventilation below the VRT was measured and the slope of the ventilatory response above the VRT was determined. Gender had no effect on the hyperoxic or hypoxic VRT for CO2. Central chemoreflex sensitivity was significantly greater in men than women but not after correction for forced vital capacity. Measures of peripheral chemoreflex sensitivity were similar between genders. However, the slope of the tidal volume (VT) response to hyperoxic and hypoxic CO2 rebreathing (corrected and uncorrected) was greater in men than women, respectively. We conclude that central chemoreflex sensitivity is greater in men compared to women as reflected by differences in ventilatory (uncorrected) and VT (corrected and uncorrected) responses to CO2. However, gender has no significant effect on the central chemoreflex VRT for CO2. The peripheral chemoreflex control of breathing during wakefulness is similar between men and women.
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