The effects of acute, progressive isocapnic hypoxia and hyperoxic hypercapnia on heart rate (HR) were determined in 13 normal individuals. In all subjects there was an inverse linear relationship between hemoglobin oxygen saturation and HR. For the group, the HR (mean +/- SE) increased from 72 +/- 2 to 89.5 +/- 3 beats/min representing a 25% increase. During progressive hypercapnia, the HR increased from 72 +/- 2 to 75 +/- 2 beats/min, representing only a 4% increase. In contrast to the HR response to hypoxia, there was a heterogeneous HR response to hypercapnia, with most subjects having a mild increase in HR, but some showing no response and a few exhibiting a decrease in HR. We conclude that although there is a significant tachycardic response to isocapnic hypoxia, the tachycardic response to hyperoxic hypercapnia is small and clinically insignificant. In addition, while there is uniformly a tachycardic response to isocapnic hypoxia, there is a considerable interindividual variability of the HR response to hyperoxic hypercapnia.