Technique for assessing the response of the respiratory controller to hypoxia and hypercapnia

A technique, suitable for clinical practice, has been developed to measure quantitatively and separately the effects of hypercapnia on the central and peripheral chemoreceptors, and hypoxia on the peripheral chemoreceptors of a human subject. The technique uses a model to account for the dynamics of CO2 transport in the brain and is based on current concepts of the chemoreceptor system and makes a minimum of assumptions. The method was tested in one subject and there was evidence for hysteresis in the response to hypoxia and short-term adaptation in the response to hypercapnia of the chemoreceptor controller.