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Biomedical subjects

Jerome A Dempsey

Publications and source records attributed to Jerome A Dempsey.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Cerebrovascular response to carbon dioxide in patients with congestive heart failure.

RATIONALE: Cerebrovascular reactivity to CO(2) provides an important counterregulatory mechanism that serves to minimize the change in H(+) at the central chemoreceptor, thereby stabilizing the breathing pattern in the face of perturbations in Pa(CO(2)). However, there are no studies relating cerebral circulation abnormality to the presence or absence of central sleep apnea in patients with heart failure. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether patients with congestive heart failure and central sleep apnea have an attenuated cerebrovascular responsibility to CO(2). METHODS: Cerebral blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery was measured in patients with stable congestive heart failure with (n = 9) and without (n = 8) central sleep apnea using transcranial ultrasound during eucapnia (room air), hypercapnia (inspired CO(2), 3 and 5%), and hypocapnia (voluntary hyperventilation). In addition, eight subjects with apnea and nine without apnea performed a 20-second breath-hold to investigate the dynamic cerebrovascular response to apnea. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The overall cerebrovascular reactivity to CO(2) (hyper- and hypocapnia) was lower in patients with apnea than in the control group (1.8 +/- 0.2 vs. 2.5 +/- 0.2%/mm Hg, p < 0.05), mainly due to the prominent reduction of cerebrovascular reactivity to hypocapnia (1.2 +/- 0.3 vs. 2.2 +/- 0.1%/mm Hg, p < 0.05). Similarly, brain blood flow demonstrated a smaller surge after a 20-second breath-hold (peak velocity, 119 +/- 4 vs. 141 +/- 8% of baseline, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients with central sleep apnea have a diminished cerebrovascular response to PET(CO(2)), especially to hypocapnia. The compromised cerebrovascular reactivity to CO(2) might affect stability of the breathing pattern by causing ventilatory overshooting during hypercapnia and undershooting during hypocapnia.

Aged↗

Skeletal muscle pump versus respiratory muscle pump: modulation of venous return from the locomotor limb in humans.

The vast majority of quantitative data examining the effects of breathing on venous return have been derived from anaesthetized or reduced animal preparations, making an extrapolation to an upright exercising human problematic due to the lack of a hydrostatic column and an absence of muscular contraction. Thus, this study is the first to quantitatively examine the effects of different breathing mechanics on venous return from the locomotor limbs both at rest and during calf contraction exercise in the semirecumbent human. When subjects inspired using predominantly their ribcage/accessory inspiratory muscles at rest (change in gastric pressure (DeltaP(GA)) = <2 cmH(2)O, change in oesophageal pressure (DeltaP(ES)) = approximately -6 cmH(2)O; inspiratory time/total breath time (T(I)/T(TOT)) = 0.5), a slight facilitation of femoral venous return was observed during inspiration (65% of all flow occurred during inspiration), with a slight reduction in femoral venous return during the ensuing expiratory phase of the breath. However, when subjects inspired using a predominantly diaphragmatic breath at rest (DeltaP(GA) = > 5 cmH(2)O, DeltaP(ES) = approximately -6 cmH(2)O; T(I)/T(TOT) = 0.5), femoral venous return was markedly impeded (net retrograde flow of 11%) and significantly lower than that observed during ribcage breathing conditions (P < 0.01). During the ensuing expiratory phase of a diaphragmatic breath, there was a large resurgence of femoral venous blood flow. The pattern of modulation during ribcage and diaphragmatic breathing persisted during both mild (peak calf force = 7 kg) and moderate (peak calf force = 11 kg) levels of calf contraction. Despite the significant within-breath modulation of femoral venous return by breathing, net blood flow in the steady state was not altered by the breathing pattern followed by the subjects. Though popliteal blood flow appeared to be modulated by respiration at rest, this pattern was absent during mild calf contraction where popliteal outflow was phasic with the concentric phase of calf contraction. We conclude that respiratory muscle pressure production is the predominant factor modulating venous return from the locomotor limb both at rest and during calf contraction even when the veins of the lower limb are distended due to the presence of a physiologic hydrostatic column.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Increased propensity for apnea via dopamine-induced carotid body inhibition in sleeping dogs.

We determined the effects of specific carotid body chemoreceptor inhibition on the propensity for apnea during sleep. We reduced the responsiveness of the carotid body chemoreceptors using intravenous dopamine infusions during non-rapid eye movement sleep in six dogs. Then we quantified the difference in end-tidal Pco(2) (Pet(CO(2))) between eupnea and the apneic threshold, the "CO(2) reserve," by gradually reducing Pet(CO(2)) transiently with pressure support ventilation at progressively increased tidal volume until apnea occurred. Dopamine infusions decreased steady-state eupneic ventilation by 15 +/- 6%, causing a mean CO(2) retention of 3.9 +/- 1.9 mmHg and a brief period of ventilatory instability. The apneic threshold Pet(CO(2)) rose 5.1 +/- 1.9 Torr; thus the CO(2) reserve was narrowed from -3.9 +/- 0.62 Torr in control to -2.7 +/- 0.78 Torr with dopamine. This decrease in the CO(2) reserve with dopamine resulted solely from the 20.5 +/- 11.3% increase in plant gain; the slope of the ventilatory response to CO(2) below eupnea was unchanged from normal. We conclude that specific carotid chemoreceptor inhibition with dopamine increases the propensity for apnea during sleep by narrowing the CO(2) reserve below eupnea. This narrowing is due solely to an increase in plant gain as the slope of the ventilatory response to CO(2) below eupnea was unchanged from normal control. These findings have implications for the role of chemoreceptor inhibition/stimulation in the genesis of apnea and breathing periodicity during sleep.

Animals↗

Crossing the apnoeic threshold: causes and consequences.

This brief review addresses the characteristics, lability and the mechanisms underlying the hypocapnic-induced apnoeic threshold which is unmasked during NREM sleep. The role of carotid chemoreceptors as fast, sensitive detectors of dynamic changes in CO2 is emphasized and placed in historical context of the long-held debate over central vs. peripheral contributions to CO2 sensing and to apnoea. Finally, evidence is presented which points to a significant role for unstable, central respiratory motor output as a significant contributor to upper airway narrowing and obstruction during sleep.

Animals↗

The ventilatory responsiveness to CO(2) below eupnoea as a determinant of ventilatory stability in sleep.

Sleep unmasks a highly sensitive hypocapnia-induced apnoeic threshold, whereby apnoea is initiated by small transient reductions in arterial CO(2) pressure (P(aCO(2))) below eupnoea and respiratory rhythm is not restored until P(aCO(2)) has risen significantly above eupnoeic levels. We propose that the 'CO(2) reserve' (i.e. the difference in P(aCO(2)) between eupnoea and the apnoeic threshold (AT)), when combined with 'plant gain' (or the ventilatory increase required for a given reduction in P(aCO(2))) and 'controller gain' (ventilatory responsiveness to CO(2) above eupnoea) are the key determinants of breathing instability in sleep. The CO(2) reserve varies inversely with both plant gain and the slope of the ventilatory response to reduced CO(2) below eupnoea; it is highly labile in non-random eye movement (NREM) sleep. With many types of increases or decreases in background ventilatory drive and P(aCO(2)), the slope of the ventilatory response to reduced P(aCO(2)) below eupnoea remains unchanged from control. Thus, the CO(2) reserve varies inversely with plant gain, i.e. it is widened with hyperventilation and narrowed with hypoventilation, regardless of the stimulus and whether it acts primarily at the peripheral or central chemoreceptors. However, there are notable exceptions, such as hypoxia, heart failure, or increased pulmonary vascular pressures, which all increase the slope of the CO(2) response below eupnoea and narrow the CO(2) reserve despite an accompanying hyperventilation and reduced plant gain. Finally, we review growing evidence that chemoreceptor-induced instability in respiratory motor output during sleep contributes significantly to the major clinical problem of cyclical obstructive sleep apnoea.

Animals↗

Exercise-induced intrapulmonary arteriovenous shunting in healthy humans.

We hypothesized that increasing exercise intensity recruits dormant arteriovenous intrapulmonary shunts, which may contribute to the widened alveolar-arterial oxygen difference seen with exercise. Twenty-three healthy volunteers (13 men and 10 women, aged 23-48 yr) with normal lung function and a wide range of fitness (mean maximal oxygen uptake = 126% predicted; range = 78-200% predicted) were studied by agitated saline contrast echocardiography (4-chamber apical view). All 23 subjects had normal resting contrast echocardiograms without evidence of intracardiac or intrapulmonary shunting. However, with cycle ergometer exercise, 21 of 23 (91%) of the subjects showed a delayed (>3 cardiac cycles) appearance of contrast bubbles in the left heart. This pattern is consistent with passage of contrast bubbles through the pulmonary circulation. Because the contrast bubbles are known to be significantly larger than pulmonary capillaries, we propose that they are traveling through direct arteriovenous intrapulmonary shunts. In all cases, the intrapulmonary shunting developed at submaximal oxygen uptakes [%maximal oxygen uptake = 59 +/- 20 (SD)] and once evident persisted at all subsequent work rates. Within 3 min of exercise termination, the contrast echocardiograms with bubble injection showed no evidence of intrapulmonary shunting. These dynamic shunts will contribute significantly to the widened alveolar-arterial oxygen difference seen with exercise. They may also act as a protective parallel vascular network limiting the rise in regional pulmonary vascular pressure while preserving cardiac output during exercise.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Cardiovascular effects of the respiratory muscle metaboreflexes in dogs: rest and exercise.

In awake dogs, lactic acid was injected into the phrenic and deep circumflex iliac arteries to elicit the diaphragm and abdominal muscle metaboreflexes, respectively. At rest, injections into the phrenic or deep circumflex iliac arteries significantly increased mean arterial blood pressure 21 +/- 7% and reduced cardiac output 6 +/- 2% and blood flow to the hindlimbs 20 +/- 9%. Simultaneously, total systemic, hindlimb, and abdominal expiratory muscle vascular conductances were reduced. These cardiovascular responses were not accompanied by significant changes in the amplitude or timing of the diaphragm electromyogram. During treadmill exercise that increased cardiac output, hindlimb blood flow, and vascular conductance 159 +/- 106, 276 +/- 309, and 299 +/- 90% above resting values, lactic acid injected into the phrenic or deep circumflex iliac arteries also elicited pressor responses and reduced hindlimb blood flow and vascular conductance. Adrenergic receptor blockade at rest eliminated the cardiovascular effects of the respiratory muscle metaboreflex. We conclude that the cardiovascular effects of respiratory muscle metaboreflex activation are similar to those previously reported for limb muscles. When activated via metabolite production, the respiratory muscle metaboreflex may contribute to the increased sympathetic tone and redistribution of blood flow during exercise.

Abdominal Muscles↗

Controlled versus assisted mechanical ventilation effects on respiratory motor output in sleeping humans.

Central apneas occur after cessation of mechanical ventilation despite normocapnic conditions. We asked whether this was due to ventilator-induced increases in respiratory rate or VT. Accordingly, we compared the effects of increased VT (135 to 220% of eupneic VT) with and without increased respiratory rate, using controlled and assist control mechanical ventilation, respectively, upon transdiaphragmatic pressure in sleeping humans. Increasing ventilator frequency +1 per minute and VT to 165-200% of baseline eupnea eliminated transdiaphragmatic pressure during controlled mechanical ventilation and prolonged expiratory time (two to four times control) after mechanical ventilation. During and after assist control mechanical ventilation at 135-220% of eupneic VT, transdiaphragmatic pressure was reduced in proportion to the increase in ventilator volume. However, every ventilator cycle was triggered by an active inspiration, and immediately after mechanical ventilation, expiratory time during spontaneous breathing was prolonged less than 20% of that observed after controlled mechanical ventilation at similar VT. We conclude that both increased frequency and VT during mechanical ventilation significantly inhibited respiratory motor output via nonchemical mechanisms. Controlled mechanical ventilation at increased frequency plus moderate elevations in VT reset respiratory rhythm and inhibited respiratory motor output to a much greater extent than did increased VT alone.

Adult↗

Mechanisms of the cerebrovascular response to apnoea in humans.

We measured ventilation, arterial O2 saturation, end-tidal CO2 (PET,CO2), blood pressure (intra-arterial catheter or photoelectric plethysmograph), and flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery (CFV) (pulsed Doppler ultrasound) in 17 healthy awake subjects while they performed 20 s breath holds under control conditions and during ganglionic blockade (intravenous trimethaphan, 4.4 +/- 1.1 mg min-1 (mean +/- S.D.)). Under control conditions, breath holding caused increases in PET,CO2 (7 +/- 1 mmHg) and in mean arterial pressure (MAP) (15 +/- 2 mmHg). A transient hyperventilation (PET,CO2 -7 +/- 1 mmHg vs. baseline) occurred post-apnoea. CFV increased during apnoeas (by 42 +/- 3 %) and decreased below baseline (by 20 +/- 2 %) during post-apnoea hyperventilation. In the post-apnoea recovery period, CFV returned to baseline in 45 +/- 4 s. The post-apnoea decrease in CFV did not occur when hyperventilation was prevented. During ganglionic blockade, which abolished the increase in MAP, apnoea-induced increases in CFV were partially attenuated (by 26 +/- 2 %). Increases in PET,CO2 and decreases in oxyhaemoglobin saturation (Sa,O2) (by 2 +/- 1 %) during breath holds were identical in the intact and blocked conditions. Ganglionic blockade had no effect on the slope of the CFV response to hypocapnia but it reduced the CFV response to hypercapnia (by 17 +/- 5 %). We attribute this effect to abolition of the hypercapnia-induced increase in MAP. Peak increases in CFV during 20 s Mueller manoeuvres (40 +/- 3 %) were the same as control breath holds, despite a 15 mmHg initial, transient decrease in MAP. Hyperoxia also had no effect on the apnoea-induced increase in CFV (40 +/- 4 %). We conclude that apnoea-induced fluctuations in CFV were caused primarily by increases and decreases in arterial partial pressure of CO2 (Pa,CO2) and that sympathetic nervous system activity was not required for either the initiation or the maintenance of the cerebrovascular response to hyper- and hypocapnia. Increased MAP or other unknown influences of autonomic activation on the cerebral circulation played a smaller but significant role in the apnoea-induced increase in CFV; however, negative intrathoracic pressure and the small amount of oxyhaemoglobin desaturation caused by 20 s apnoea did not affect CFV.

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists↗

[The John Sutton Lecture: CSEP, 2002]. Pulmonary system limitations to exercise in health.

It is commonly held that the structural capacity of the normal lung is "overbuilt" and exceeds the demand for pulmonary O2 and CO2 transport in the healthy, exercising human. On the other hand, the adaptability of pulmonary system structures to habitual physical training is substantially less than are other links in the O2 transport system. Accordingly, in some highly fit, and even in some not so fit habitually active individuals, the lung's diffusion surface, airways, and/or chest-wall musculature are underbuilt relative to the demand for maximal O2 transport. Two specific pulmonary limitations to exercise performance are proposed: (1) exercise-induced arterial hypoxemia secondary to excessive widening of the alveolar to arterial O2 difference, inadequate hyperventilation, and metabolic acidosis; and (2) highly fatiguing levels of respiratory muscle work which effectively steals blood flow from locomotor muscles via sympathetically mediated reflexes and heightens the perception of limb discomfort and dyspnea. In this brief review, we describe the characteristics and causes of each of these proposed pulmonary limitations and their consequences to maximal O2 uptake and exercise performance.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

The essential role of carotid body chemoreceptors in sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is attributable, in part, to an unstable ventilatory control system and specifically to a narrowed "CO2 reserve" (i.e., the difference in P(a)CO2 between eupnea and the apneic threshold). Findings from sleeping animal preparations with denervated carotid chemoreceptors or vascularly isolated, perfused carotid chemoreceptors demonstrate the critical importance of peripheral chemoreceptors to the ventilatory responses to dynamic changes in P(a)CO2. Specifically, (i) carotid body denervation prevented the apnea and periodic breathing that normally follow transient ventilatory overshoots; (ii) the CO2 reserve for peripheral chemoreceptors was about one half that for brain chemoreceptors; and (iii) hypocapnia isolated to the carotid chemoreceptors caused hypoventilation that persisted over time despite a concomitant, progressive brain respiratory acidosis. Observations in both humans and animals are cited to demonstrate the marked plasticity of the CO2 reserve and, therefore, the propensity for apneas and periodic breathing, in response to changing background ventilatory stimuli.

Animals↗

Carotid body denervation eliminates apnea in response to transient hypocapnia.

We determined the effects on breathing of transient ventilatory overshoots and concomitant hypocapnia, as produced by pressure support mechanical ventilation (PSV), in intact and carotid body chemoreceptor denervated (CBX) sleeping dogs. In the intact dog, PSV-induced transient increases in tidal volume and hypocapnia caused apnea within 10-11 s, followed by repetitive two-breath clusters separated by apneas, i.e., periodic breathing (PB). After CBX, significant expiratory time prolongation did not occur until after 30 s of PSV-induced hypocapnia, and PB never occurred. Average apneas of 8.4 +/- 1-s duration after a ventilatory overshoot required a decrease below eupnea of end-tidal Pco(2) 5.1 +/- 0.4 Torr below eupnea in the intact animal and 10.1 +/- 2 Torr in the CBX dog, where the former reflected peripheral and the latter central dynamic CO(2) chemoresponsiveness, as tested in the absence of peripheral chemoreceptor input. Hyperoxia when the dogs were intact shortened PSV-induced apneas and reduced PB but did not mimic the effects of CBX. We conclude that, during non-rapid eye movement sleep, carotid chemoreceptors are required to produce apneas that normally occur after a transient ventilatory overshoot and for PB.

Animals↗

Apnea-hypopnea threshold for CO2 in patients with congestive heart failure.

To understand the pathogenesis of central sleep apnea (CSA) in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), we measured the end-tidal carbon dioxide pressure (PET(CO2)) during spontaneous breathing, the apnea-hypopnea threshold for CO2, and then calculated the difference between these two measurements in 19 stable patients with CHF with (12 patients) or without (7 patients) CSA during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Pressure support ventilation was used to reduce the PET(CO2) and thereby determine the thresholds. In patients with CSA, 1.5-3% CO2 was supplied temporarily to stabilize breathing before determining the thresholds. Unlike patients without CSA whose eupneic PET(CO2) increased during sleep (37.7 +/- 1.4 mm Hg versus 40.2 +/- 1.5 mm Hg, p < 0.01), patients with CSA showed no rise in PET(CO2) from wakefulness to sleep (37.5 +/- 0.9 mm Hg versus 38.2 +/- 1.0 mm Hg, p = 0.2). Patients with CHF and CSA had their eupneic PET(CO2) closer to the threshold PET(CO2) than patients without CSA (DeltaPET(CO2) [eupneic PET(CO2) - threshold PET(CO2)] was 2.8 +/- 0.3 mm Hg versus 5.1 +/- 0.7 mm Hg for apnea, p < 0.01; 1.7 +/- 0.7 versus 4.1 +/- 0.5 mm Hg for hypopnea, p < 0.05). In summary, patients with CHF and CSA neither increase their eupneic PET(CO2) during sleep nor proportionally decrease their apnea-hypopnea threshold. The resultant narrowed DeltaPET(CO2) predisposes the patient to the development of apnea and subsequent breathing instability.

Analysis of Variance↗

Effect of ventilatory drive on carbon dioxide sensitivity below eupnea during sleep.

We determined the effects of changing ventilatory stimuli on the hypocapnia-induced apneic and hypopneic thresholds in sleeping dogs. End-tidal carbon dioxide pressure (PET(CO2)) was gradually reduced during non-rapid eye movement sleep by increasing tidal volume with pressure support mechanical ventilation, causing a reduction in diaphragm electromyogram amplitude until apnea/periodic breathing occurred. We used the reduction in PET(CO2) below spontaneous breathing required to produce apnea (DeltaPET(CO2)) as an index of the susceptibility to apnea. DeltaPET(CO2) was -5 mm Hg in control animals and changed in proportion to background ventilatory drive, increasing with metabolic acidosis (-6.7 mm Hg) and nonhypoxic peripheral chemoreceptor stimulation (almitrine; -5.9 mm Hg) and decreasing with metabolic alkalosis (-3.7 mm Hg). Hypoxia was the exception; DeltaPET(CO2) narrowed (-4.1 mm Hg) despite the accompanying hyperventilation. Thus, hyperventilation and hypocapnia, per se, widened the DeltaPET(CO2) thereby protecting against apnea and hypopnea, whereas reduced ventilatory drive and hypoventilation narrowed the DeltaPET(CO2) and increased the susceptibility to apnea. Hypoxia sensitized the ventilatory responsiveness to CO2 below eupnea and narrowed the DeltaPET(CO2); this effect of hypoxia was not attributable to an imbalance between peripheral and central chemoreceptor stimulation, per se. We conclude that the DeltaPET(CO2) and the ventilatory sensitivity to CO2 between eupnea and the apneic threshold are changeable in the face of variations in the magnitude, direction, and/or type of ventilatory stimulus, thereby altering the susceptibility for apnea, hypopnea, and periodic breathing in sleep.

Acidosis, Respiratory↗