Dynamics of carbon dioxide stores changes following an alteration in ventilation.

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Abstract
The time course of CO2 tension in the arterial and mixed venous blood during the first few minutes of apnea and hyperventilation was determined. During hyperventilation, the half-time of the arterial and mixed venous CO2 tension changes as a function of ventilation. These changes, with time, are curvilinear. The significant transient during hyperventilation lasts at least 10 min. During apnea, on the other hand, after the 1st min. the rate of increase in both arterial and mixed venous blood CO2 tension is linear with time, indicating that the transient period is short. The experimental results further indicate that the effective tissue storage of CO2 (the effective slope of the whole-body dissociation curve for CO2) must be low during the 1st few min. of CO2 upset. The mechanisms by which this change can occur are discussed. A mathematical model in which all of the body tissue except blood, brain, and kidney are assigned the dissociation curve slope of water (according to Henry''s law), closely duplicates experimental results.