Panic attacks induced by doxapram.

Doxapram is a respiratory stimulant thought to act by stimulating medullary neurones and carotid oxygen receptors (Kato and Buckley 1964). It changes neither oxygen uptake nor CO2 production, but produces substantial hyperventilation (Calvedey et al 1983). Hyperventilation occurs during naturally occurring or pharmacologically induced panic attacks, and perhaps also in panic patients between attacks (Gorman et al 1984, 1986). In panic disorder, central respiratory centers (Woods et al 1988) or a "suffocation alarm" center (Klein in press) may be hyperexcitable. We report here a pilot study designed to test the possibility that in panic diserder these centers may be hypersensitive to doxapram.