BREATHING CONTROL DURING EXERCISE DISCUSSION

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of the symposium on breathing control during exercise. The goal of the symposium was to examine the past history, present state, and future course of research on this persistent problem. The basic problems were outlined in a brief introduction by the chairman. The discussion in the formal presentation and in very lively interchanges among and between the speakers and audience participants included a few questions regarding whether the exercise stimulus is all neural, all humoral, or some mixture of the two, whether the response to endogenous CO 2 differs from that to CO 2 inhalation, and whether intravenous infusion of CO 2 via an extracorporal gas exchanger reproduces the errorless hyperpnea of exercises. Investigations are often looking for small quantitative differences between experimental preparations, which are technically difficult and often provide very noisy data. A variety of species, anesthesia, and awake preparations have been used, which contribute to the difficulty of interpretation. The symposium accomplished its purpose in getting the most active participants in this drama together in fruitful discussions about differences in technical procedures, preparations, and so on, which may contribute to differences in interpretation.