Significance of vagal innervation in perinatal breathing and gas exchange

The mechanisms responsible for the establishment of continuous breathing at birth remain unknown. Several studies have shown that postnatal vagal denervation produces deleterious effects on ventilation as well as breathing patterns during the newborn period. However, the validity of these studies was compromised by anesthesia, tracheostomy or possible secondary laryngeal obstruction. We have recently developed an unanesthetized lamb model in which vagal denervation was performed antenatally and below the recurrent laryngeal nerves thereby avoiding anesthesia, tracheostomy and laryngeal paralysis. The denervated animals developed life-threatening respiratory failure shortly after birth, implying that vagal innervation of the lungs plays an essential role in establishing adequate gas exchange in the first hours after birth. We have subsequently investigated various mechanisms of respiratory failure in denervated animals. Our results show that the surfactant system dysfunction and loss of vagally mediated volume feedback likely contributed to the respiratory failure observed in the intrathoracically denervated animal model.