Periodic breathing induced by arterial oxygen partial pressure oscillations

Abstract

The Grodins model of respiratory control (Grodins et al., 1967) describes cardiorespiratory control for a lung with homogeneous gas concentrations. In this study we modify the Grodins model to take account of the inhomogeneities in gas concentration within the lung that are seen in many subjects with respiratory illnesses. This modification has the effect of lowering arterial oxygen partial pressure significantly. We investigate the effect on cardio-respiratory control of this low arterial oxygen signal and find that the governing equations may be reduced to a single delay-diffe