The objective of this thesis was to study the time-course of the respiratory effects of THC/ethanol and GHB/ethanol associations. Respiration was studied using whole body plethysmography in non-anesthetized rats during the four hours following intraperitoneal injection. In a first step, both GHB and ethanol affected the respiratory pattern. Ethanol caused bradypnea at doses greater than 3 g.kg-1 and GHB induced apneusis above 600 mg.kg-1. Arterial blood gases modifications were metabolic: acidemia with ethanol and alkalosis with GHB. At those doses, both substances altered consciousness and body temperature of animals. Ethanol induced hypothermia and GHB a temperature triphasic change: hypothermia/ hyperthermia/hypothermia. Blood determinations and kinetic studies reinforced the likelihood, and clinical and forensic relevancies of our animal model. Association studies showed that the respiratory effects of THC and GHB were unchanged in presence of ethanol. Association with 3 g.kg-1 ethanol dose only provoked a reduction in minute volume and in mean inspiratory flow, but mechanisms were different. Ethanol and THC induced a decrease in tidal volume; ethanol and GHB an increase in expiratory apnea duration. The observed kinetic interaction between ethanol and GHB did not explain phenomenon intensity; a potentialization could occur.
