Abstract 11489: Respiratory Quotient Correlates With Blood Lactate During Hemorrhage

Background: Cellular energy productions shifts from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis during periods of hypoxia, a symptom common to both shock and rigorous exercise. In critical care, serum excess lactate is measured as a marker of increased anaerobic metabolism. In exercise physiology, the respiratory quotient (RQ), defined as the ratio of the number of carbon dioxide molecules produced to the number of oxygen molecules consumed in a single breath, is used to track shifts between aerobic and anaerobic metabolism. We hypothesized that the respiratory quotient could be used to track the metabolic status of animals in shock. Methods: To compare lactate and RQ during two states of shock, 5 swine (~30kg) were subjected to 2 minutes of untreated VF followed by ACLS (2 minutes of CPR followed by defibrillation). After successful resuscitation and hemodynamic stabilization, 1 L of blood volume was removed through a femoral introducer sheath. In addition to standard physiological monitoring, we measured ai...