Abstract

The trachea in the giraffe is long but narrow, and dead space ventilation is considered to be of approximately the same size as in other mammals. Less is known about the matching between ventilation and lung blood flow. The lungs in the giraffe are large, up to 1 m high and 0.7 m wide, and this may cause considerable ventilation/perfusion (V-A/Q) mismatch due to the influence of gravitational forces, which could lead to hypoxemia. We studied a young giraffe under anesthesia using the multiple inert gas elimination technique to analyze the V-A/Q distribution and arterial oxygenation and compared the results with those obtained in other species of different sizes, including humans. V-A/Q distribution was broad but unimodal, and the shunt of blood flow through nonventilated lung regions was essentially absent, suggesting no lung collapse. The V-A/Q match was as good as in the similarly sized horse and was even comparable to that in smaller sized animals, including rabbit and rat. The match was also similar to that in anesthetized humans. Arterial oxygenation was essentially similar in all studied species. The findings suggest that the efficiency of V-A/Q matching is independent of lung size in the studied mammals that vary in weight from less than 1 to more than 400 kg.

Keywords

giraffe; ventilation; gas exchange; ventilation/perfusion

Published in

Journal of Applied Physiology
2016, Volume: 121, number: 6, pages: 1374-1378
Publisher: AMER PHYSIOLOGICAL SOC

SLU Authors

• Nyman, Görel

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Clinical Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00428.2016

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/84077