A potential early physiological marker for CNS oxygen toxicity: hyperoxic hyperpnea precedes seizure in unanesthetized rats breathing hyperbaric oxygen.

Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO(2)) stimulates presumptive central CO2-chemoreceptor neurons, increases minute ventilation (V(min)), decreases heart rate (HR) and, if breathed sufficiently long, produces central nervous system oxygen toxicity (CNS-OT; i.e., seizures). The risk of seizures when breathing HBO(2) is variable between individuals and its onset is difficult to predict. We have tested the hypothesis that a predictable pattern of cardiorespiration precedes an impending seizure when breathing HBO2. To test this hypothesis, 27 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with radiotelemetry transmitters to assess diaphragmatic/abdominal electromyogram, electrocardiogram, and electroencephalogram. Seven days after surgery, each rat was placed in a sealed, continuously ventilated animal chamber inside a hyperbaric chamber. Both chambers were pressurized in parallel using poikilocapnic 100% O(2) (animal chamber) and air (hyperbaric chamber) to 4, 5, or 6 atmospheres absolute (ATA). Breathing 1 ATA O(2) initially decreased V(min) and HR (Phase 1 of the compound hyperoxic ventilatory response). With continued exposure to normobaric hyperoxia, however, V(min) began increasing toward the end of exposure in one-third of the animals tested. Breathing HBO2 induced an early transient increase in V(min) (Phase 2) and HR during the chamber pressurization, followed by a second significant increase of V(min) ≤8 min prior to seizure (Phase 3). HR, which subsequently decreased during sustained hyperoxia, showed no additional changes prior to seizure. We conclude that hyperoxic hyperpnea (Phase 3 of the compound hyperoxic ventilatory response) is a predictor of an impending seizure while breathing poikilocapnic HBO(2) at rest in unanesthetized rats.