Clinical science
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1. Atropine is known to diminish bronchomotor tone. In order to investigate the acute effect of atropine on respiration and alveolar gas mixing, a dose of 2.4 mg was given intravenously. 2. ⋯ In the subjects receiving atropine tidal volume reduced by 96 ml, but the observed fall in alveolar mixing efficiency was only 3.5%, This suggests an improvement in alveolar mixing of 3.4% due to the administration of atropine. Despite this small improvement, the mixing efficiency is still only 66%. The residual inefficiency of 34% cannot therefore be explained on the basis of bronchomotor tone.