Ventilatory adaptation to hypoxia occurs in serotonin-depleted rats

To test the hypothesis that serotonin mediated respiratory activity is involved in ventilatory adaptation to hypoxia, rats were treated with parachlorophenylalanine (PCPA), a potent, long-acting inhibitor of tryptophan hydroxylase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of serotonin. In normoxia, a single, intraperitoneal injection of 300 mg PCPA/kg body weight decreased the Paco2 from a control level at 39.1 +/- 0.6 Torr (mean +/- 95% confidence limits) to 34.0 +/- 0.6 Torr measured during a period from 1 to 48 h following PCPA treatment. This PCPA-produced hyperventilation corresponds to an increase of 3.7 +/- 0.5 in the VA (BTPS)/Vco2 (STPD) ratio. Hyperventilation during ventilatory adaptation to hypoxia (PIO2 approximately equal to 90 Torr) was superimposed in an additive fashion on the underlying hyperventilation due to PCPA pretreatment. Specifically, PCPA pretreatment caused an average 3.5 +/- 1.2 increase in the VA/VCO2 ratio determined in acute (1 h) hypoxia, chronic (24 h) hypoxia and acute return to normoxia following chronic hypoxia. Since ventilatory adaptation to hypoxia occurred in rats treated with PCPA, the prolonged, serotonin mediated respiratory activity described by Millhorn et al. (1980b) is probably not important in ventilatory acclimatization to - or deacclimatization from - hypoxia.