Respiratory muscle recruitment during selective central and peripheral chemoreceptor stimulation in awake dogs

1. In four awake dogs we measured EMG activity of three inspiratory and four expiratory muscles during sustained central chemoreceptor stimulation (CO2 inhalation), and peripheral chemoreceptor stimulation (intravenous infusion of almitrine bismesylate (almitrine)). By using this selective pharmacological stimulation of the peripheral chemoreceptors and reversibly cold-blocking pulmonary stretch receptors, we were able to determine the effects of each type of stimulation on respiratory muscle recruitment in the absence of such complicating influences as pulmonary stretch receptor feedback, cerebral hypoxia or hypocapnia, and differences in breathing pattern. 2. During 10 min of steady-state hyperpnoea (minute ventilation VI, approximately twice eupnoea) caused by either hypercapnia or isocapnic stimulation of the carotid bodies with almitrine, all three inspiratory and all four expiratory muscles demonstrated significant and sustained elevations in EMG activity. 3. With both types of chemoreceptor stimulation, as tidal volume, VT, increased, so did the mean electrical activities of the crural diaphragm (r = 0.88), costal diaphragm (r = 0.93), parasternals (r = 0.82), triangularis sterni (r = 0.74), transversus abdominis (r = 0.77), external obliques (r = 0.68) and internal intercostals (r = 0.75). 4. In each dog, the response of ventilation and of the diaphragmatic EMG to a given level of central or peripheral chemoreceptor stimulation is highly reproducible from one test day to the next. On the other hand, accessory inspiratory and expiratory abdominal and rib cage muscles in two of the four dogs showed highly significant changes from day to day in the amount of their EMG activity at any given VT. 5. During steady-state ventilatory stimulation, 2 min intervals were chosen during which the two types of chemoreceptor stimulation had caused hyperpnoeas with similar values for VT, total time per breath (TTOT) and inspiratory time divided by the total time (TI/TTOT). Comparison of EMG activities during these matched hyperpnoeas revealed that there were no differences in the activities of any of the muscles between the two forms of stimulation. We conclude that peripheral chemoreceptor stimulation causes significant and sustained recruitment of expiratory muscles even in the absence of pulmonary feedback and that both expiratory and inspiratory muscles are recruited to the same extent during peripheral chemoreceptor stimulation as they are during an identical hyperpnoea caused by central chemoreceptor stimulation.