Ventilatory reflexes originated from carotid and extracarotid chemoreceptors in rats

Ventilatory responses to transient stimulation and inhibition of arterial chemoreceptors--by hypoxia and hyperoxia, respectively--were studied in 10 pentobarbitone-anesthetized rats. N2 tests and intravenous injections of NaCN provoked transient increases in tidal volume and respiratory frequency, while O2 tests elicited decreases of these parameters. After bilateral carotid neurotomy, ventilatory responses to N2 and NaCN were still present although reduced in all rats, while ventilatory depression in response to O2 tests was observed in 60% of these rats. Further bilateral sectioning of main vagus, aortic, and superior laryngeal nerves immediately below the nodose ganglia abolished the ventilatory responses to NaCN in only one of the five rats subjected to this procedure, the remaining animals showing moderate hyperventilation in response to large doses of this drug. Mild ventilatory depression in response to hyperoxia, indicative of a persistent peripheral chemosensory drive, was still present in two of these rats. It is concluded that, although the carotid bodies constitute the main source of ventilatory chemoreflexes in rats, other vagally and nonvagally innervated chemoreceptors (presumably thoracic and abdominal) may elicit ventilatory reflexes in this species.