ABSTRACT
Drug effect studies are generally performed either to determine the effects (or side effects) of a clinically used drug, or to use the drug as a pharmacological probe to learn more about the functioning of ventilatory control mechanisms. An example of the former might be the comparison of the ventilatory depressing effects of different opioids [1] and of the latter, the use of a receptor antagonist to determine if an endogenous neurotransmitter is involved in ventilatory control [2]. Many techniques have been used to study and quantify drug effects on the control of breathing, but few standard methods for clinical testing have evolved. This chapter will primarily review methodology used to characterize drug effects on ventilatory control in humans in order to obtain useful clinical or physiological information. The other chapters in this book provide a wide range of the many different techniques that have been used, both in human and in invasive animal studies.
