A Model Analysis of Arterial Oxygen Desaturation during Apnea in Preterm Infants
Figure 3
The time course of during apnea.
Panel (A) shows the increase in the slope of the oxy-hemoglobin dissocation curve at the level of alveolar (
), and the fall in pulmonary oxygen uptake (
) that occurs during apnea. Panel (B) shows that changes in the product
explain the time course of the instantaneous slope of arterial O2 desaturation (
) during apnea. Note that the peak
occurs when
is substantially less than its resting value. Note also that the rate of fall of mixed-venous saturation (
) and
become equal and constant after 20 s.