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HPL -041: Chemical Control of Respiration from PhysioEX 11

Factors Influencing respiratory rate.

Hyperventilation and Hypoventilation alter the chemistry (particularly the pH) of the blood.
In this set of exercises, you will explore the effects of such changes in blood chemistry on the
desire to breathe, the rate and depth of breathing, and the duration of voluntary breath holding.
If we had a set of pulse oximeters, we could verify that the O2 saturation of the blood does not
change during these exercises. Thus we would conclude that the primary forcer for these bits
o Desire to breathe
o Rate and depth of breathing
o Ability to hold breath (duration)
must be the level of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the blood, and its associated pH.

Materials:
! Human Beings with functional lungs, and the ability to count and perform simple math operations.
! Cardboard tubes that look like miniature toilet paper rolls sans the TP, but are actually single
person use disposable mouthpieces.
! Green rubber bags in various states of cohesion.
! This lab form and a writing instrument.
! Some way to keep track of the passage of time.

Procedures and Results:

A. Hyperventilation- [CO2] in the blood should (circle) INCREASE DECREASE

pH of the blood should (circle) INCREASE DECREASE

1. Breathe deeply at approximately 20 breaths/minute for 2 minutes.

a. Did a feeling of lightheadedness or dizziness develop? Y N when?
b. At the end of 2 minutes your urge to breathe was (circle): HIGHER LOWER
2. What is the probable cause of the urge in #1b?

B. Rebreathing- [CO2] in the blood should (circle) INCREASE DECREASE

pH of the blood should (circle) INCREASE DECREASE

3. Breathe into the green bag at approximately 20 breaths/minute for 2 minutes.

a. Did a feeling of lightheadedness or dizziness change? Y N when?
b. At the end of 2 minutes your urge to breathe was (circle): HIGHER LOWER
4. given your response to #2, was #3b what you expected?

C. Breath Holding- first sit quietly for 2-3 minutes to ‘recover’. When performing these exercises,
hold your breath to the same level of ‘discomfort’ rather than until you pass out.

5. Trial 1: baseline- breath hold duration= _____min ______ sec

6. Trial 2: after hyperventilating for 1 minute- breath hold duration= _____min ______ sec
7. Trial 3: after rebreathing into the bag for 1 minute- breath hold duration= _____min ______ sec
8. Trial 4: after running in place for 2 minutes- breath hold duration= _____min ______ sec

put green bags in “used” bucket, dispose of tubes in regular trash, answer the questions on backi
Discussion / Conclusion:

10. Hyperventilation should have what effect on blood CO2 Levels?

11. Hyperventilation should have what effect on blood pH?

12. to compensate for an decrease in blood CO2 levels, a(n) in ventilation

would be expected.

13. During breath holding, what will happen to blood CO2 levels? What
about during exercise? .

14. With regard to breath holding duration, it would be expected to (decrease/ increase):

after hyperventilation

after hypoventilation

after exercise.

15. Were the results consistent with the expectations? Explain…

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Procedure step 9