An investigation into the relationship between acetazolamide systemic exposure, blood gas changes and ventilatory parameters in the Sprague Dawley® rat

SPS 2023 -- Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is an enzyme that plays a role in maintaining acid-base balance. There are 13 human isoforms, with CA-I and CA-II highly expressed in red blood cells catalysing the interconversion of CO2 to HCO3, supporting CO2 transport and excretion. Acetazolamide, used for the treatment of altitude sickness and glaucoma, is a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor which increases ventilatory drive but is also associated with adverse metabolic acidosis in the clinic. We used acetazolamide to assess the applicability of an in vivo rat plethysmography model, investigating changes in arterial blood gases and ventilatory function, to assess CA inhibition.