Comparison of phrenic motoneuron responses to hypercapnia and isocapnic hypoxia

This study was undertaken to compare phrenic motoneuron responses to hypercapnia and isocapnic hypoxia. Efferent activity of single phrenic nerve fibers was recorded with that of the contralateral phrenic nerve in decerebrate cats which were vagotomized, paralyzed, and artificially ventilated. At normocapnia in hyperoxia, single phrenic fibers were distributed into approximately equal "early" and "late" populations according to their onset of activity relative to the period of the phrenic burst. Elevations of PACO2 or diminutions of PAO2 resulted in progressive increases in the number of spikes per respiratory cycle and decreases in the modal interspike interval for both early and late units. Moreover, either stimulus caused an onset of late unit activity at progressively earlier portions of inspiration. At equivalent levels of peak integrated phrenic discharge achieved at normocapnia or hypercapnia as compared to normoxia or hypoxia, there were no differences in activity patterns for either early or late units. It is concluded that hypoxia-induced alterations in the activity of single phrenic motoneurons are identical to those changes resulting from hypercapnia.