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The ventilatory effects of doxapram in normal man
Clinical Science (London, England : 1979)
|July 1, 1983
Summary
Doxapram significantly increases resting ventilation and enhances responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia in healthy men. This respiratory stimulant likely acts on both central and peripheral chemoreceptors.
Area of Science:
- Respiratory Physiology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Doxapram is a respiratory stimulant.
- Its precise mechanism of action in humans requires further elucidation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mode of action of doxapram.
- To assess its effects on ventilation and chemosensitivity in healthy individuals.
Main Methods:
- Six healthy men underwent measurements of ventilation, oxygen uptake, and CO2 production.
- Hypoxic and hypercapnic ventilatory responses were assessed before and during a constant plasma level intravenous infusion of doxapram.
Main Results:
- Doxapram increased resting ventilation without altering resting oxygen uptake or CO2 production.
- It significantly enhanced the ventilatory response to isocapnic hypoxia and hypercapnia.
- The potentiation of hypoxic sensitivity was comparable to that induced by increased end-tidal CO2.
Conclusions:
- Doxapram exerts a central action, indicated by increased ventilatory response to CO2.
- The drug also appears to act on peripheral chemoreceptors or their central connections at therapeutic concentrations.