Respiration Physiology: The Control of Respiration

We have outlined the chief nervous and chemical means of regulating ventilation of the lungs, and described in some detail how each works. Others beyond the scope of this presentation have been deliberately ignored-not, we think, with any detriment to the therapist's understanding of the subject, as they are relatively of much less importance. Attention has been drawn to the fact that elevated pCO 2 is a more potent stimulus to respiration under normal physiological conditions than is low oxygen tension.