Acid Infusion Elicits Thromboxane-Mediated Cardio-Respiratory Effects

Abstract

Involvement of peripheral chemoreceptors in the control of respiration is still an open issue. While arterial chemoreceptors are well described, controversy exists about the existence of such receptors in the venous system. During the search in the cat for CO₂-sensitive receptors in the larger venous vessels or the right heart, we have intravenously infused 0.25 M HCl, as has been performed in many studies before us. We have, however, observed rather unexpected cardiorespiratory responses which we describe in the following brief review. It compiles the results from a number of studies that we conducted in the cat. For more detailed information about the methodology of each study, we refer the reader to the published papers.