British Journal of Anaesthesia, Vol 76, Issue 2 214-220, Copyright © 1996 by The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia
I. T. Foo, P. M. Warren and G. B. Drummond
Animal studies suggest that alpha 2 agonists inhibit the chemoreceptor
response to hypoxia. We have examined the effect of oral clonidine on the
ventilatory response to sustained, isocapnic hypoxia (SpO2 79.7% (SD 1.1%)
for 20 min) in eight male subjects. The hypoxic ventilatory response was
measured before and after both clonidine and placebo. Clonidine had no
significant effect on baseline ventilation or gas exchange. After
clonidine, the acute hypoxic response (AHR) (mean 5.81 (95% confidence
limits 1.94, 9.68) litre min-1) was significantly less than control (10.40
(5.97, 14.83) litre min-1) and hypoxic ventilatory decline (HVD)
(3.42(2.35, 4.49) litre min-1) was also significantly less than control
(6.49(3.92, 9.06) litre min-1) (P < 0.05). After placebo, AHR was
similar to control but HVD was significantly larger (6.82(5.28, 8.36) litre
min-1) than control (4.79(3.03, 6.55) litre min- 1) (P < 0.05). Thus
clonidine reduced both AHR and HVD but the absolute level of ventilation at
the end of hypoxia was unchanged.
CLINICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Influence of oral clonidine on the ventilatory response to acute and sustained isocapnic hypoxia in human males
Department of Anaesthetics, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, University of Edinbrugh, Edinburgh; Rayne Laboratory, Unit of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, University of Edinbrugh, Edinburgh
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