Table 2.

Arterial blood gases, pH, mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate during apnoea, baseline, +5 mmHg and +10 mmHg of CO₂ in control and NCT anaesthetized adult male rats

	Control rats (n= 7)				NCT rats (n= 7)
	Apnoea†	Baseline	+5 mmHg	+10 mmHg	Apnoea†	Baseline	+5 mmHg	+10 mmHg
(mmHg)	36.1 ± 2.2	39.6 ± 1.8	44.6 ± 1.9	49.3 ± 2.0	36.8 ± 2.1	39.7 ± 2.2	45.5 ± 1.8	50.3 ± 1.5
(mmHg)	181 ± 13	173 ± 9	165 ± 9	170 ± 13	203 ± 15	204 ± 14	193 ± 16	193 ± 14
pH	7.38 ± 0.01	7.36 ± 0.01	7.32 ± 0.01	7.30 ± 0.01	7.39 ± 0.02	7.37 ± 0.02	7.33 ± 0.01	7.29 ± 0.01
MAP (mmHg)	—	106 ± 7	112 ± 6	112 ± 6	—	107 ± 13	118 ± 6	124 ± 8
Heart rate (min−1)	—	367 ± 30	373 ± 31	360 ± 25	—	364 ± 39	431 ± 10	433 ± 11*
Body weight (g)	620 ± 19				613 ± 20

^†Arterial blood gases in this column correspond to values at apnoeic threshold when phrenic nerve activity ceases. , arterial oxygen pressure; , arterial carbon dioxide pressure; MAP, mean arterial blood pressure. Values are expressed as means ±s.e.m.

^*Significantly different from respective control value with P < 0.05.