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By Dr. Artour Rakhimov, Buteyko breathing teacher and educator

Breathing education

Part 4-E. Properties of CO2: Bronchodilation

CO2 is a natural dilator of bronchi and smaller air passages in the lungs. Normal CO2 concentrations keep these air passages open wide (see on the left).

 

“Agents that tend to dilate airways include increased

CO2 (hypoventilation or inspired CO2)...”

Normal C. Straub, Sr., Professor Emeritus, University of California

at San Francisco School of Medicine

In the textbook on physiology:

Straub NC, Section V, The Respiratory System, in Physiology,

eds. RM Berne & MN Levy, 4-th edition, Mosby, St. Louis, 1998.

 

When the CO2 level in the lungs is low, the bronchi constrict (the right picture), causing chest tightness, feelings of breathlessness, suffocation and wheezing. These effects are particularly important for asthmatics.

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* Illustrations by Victor Lunn-Rockliffe

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