Development of the ventilatory response to hypoxia in Swiss CD-1 mice

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We examined developmental changes in breathing pattern and the ventilatory response to hypoxia (7.4% O(2)) in unanesthetized Swiss CD-1 mice ranging in age from postnatal day 0 to 42 (P(0)-P(42)) using head-out plethysmography. The breathing pattern of P(0) mice was unstable. Apneas were frequent at P(0) (occupying 29 +/- 6% of total time) but rare by P(3) (5 +/- 2% of total time). Tidal volume increased in proportion to body mass ( approximately 10-13 ml/kg), but increases in respiratory frequency (f) (55 +/- 7, 130 +/- 13, and 207 +/- 20 cycles/min for P(0), P(3), and P(42), respectively) were responsible for developmental increases in minute ventilation (690 +/- 90, 1,530 +/- 250, and 2,170 +/- 430 ml. min(-1). kg(-1) for P(0), P(3), and P(42), respectively). Between P(0) and P(3), increases in f were mediated by reductions in apnea and inspiratory and expiratory times; beyond P(3), increases were due to reductions in expiratory time. Mice of all ages showed a biphasic hypoxic ventilatory response, which differed in two respects from the response typical of most mammals. First, the initial hyperpnea, which was greatest in mature animals, decreased developmentally from a maximum, relative to control, of 2.58 +/- 0.29 in P(0) mice to 1. 32 +/- 0.09 in P(42) mice. Second, whereas ventilation typically falls to or below control in most neonatal mammals, ventilation remained elevated relative to control throughout the hypoxic exposure in P(0) (1.73 +/- 0.31), P(3) (1.64 +/- 0.29), and P(9) (1. 34 +/- 0.17) mice but not in P(19) or P(42) mice.