Differences in time-dependent hypoxic phrenic responses among inbred rat strains

Hypoxic ventilatory responses differ between rodent strains, suggesting a genetic contribution to interindividual variability. However, hypoxic ventilatory responses consist of multiple time-dependent mechanisms that can be observed in different respiratory motor outputs. We hypothesized that strain differences would exist in discrete time-dependent mechanisms of the hypoxic response and, furthermore, that there may be differences between hypoglossal and phrenic nerve responses to hypoxia. Hypoglossal and phrenic nerve responses were assessed during and after a 5-min hypoxic episode in anesthetized, vagotomized, and ventilated rats from four inbred strains: Brown Norway (BN), Fischer 344 (FS), Lewis (LW), and Piebald-viral-Glaxo (PVG). During baseline, burst frequency was higher in PVG than LW rats ( P < 0.05), phrenic burst amplitude was higher in PVG vs. other strains ( P < 0.05), and hypoglossal burst amplitude was higher in PVG and BN vs. FS and LW ( P < 0.05). During hypoxia, burst frequency did not change in BN or LW rats, but it increased in PVG and FS rats. The phrenic amplitude response was smallest in PVG vs. other strains ( P < 0.05), and the hypoglossal response was similar among strains. Short-term potentiation posthypoxia was slowest in FS and fastest in LW rats ( P < 0.05). Posthypoxia frequency decline was absent in PVG, but it was observed in all other strains. Augmented breaths were observed during hypoxia in FS rats only. Thus genetic differences exist in the time domains of the hypoxic response, and these are differentially expressed in hypoglossal and phrenic nerves. Furthermore, genetic diversity observed in hypoxic ventilatory responses in unanesthetized rats may arise from multiple neural mechanisms.