Influence of the vagus nerve on respiratory patterns during early maturation

Nonlinear dynamical analysis was performed on the phrenic neurogram before and after vagotomy in order to study the influence of the vagus nerve on the complexity of the phrenic neurogram in piglets in three age groups: 3-7 days (n = 7); 11-19 days (n = 6); and 29-34 days (n = 8). The phrenic neurogram, generated by the respiratory neural networks in the medulla, projects on the diaphragm muscles and initiate the respiratory movement. On the other hand, the vagus nerves carry the information from mechanoreceptors, located at the lower airway and lungs, to the medulla. The data was recorded during normal breathing (eupnea) before and after vagotomy while piglets were ventilated with 40% O2 in N2 and analyzed using the approximate entropy (ApEn) method. The mean values of the approximate entropy before and after vagotomy during the first 7 days of the postnatal age were 1.32 +/- 0.1 (standard deviation) and 1.34 +/- 0.07, respectively. These values before and after vagotomy during the 11-19 days age group were 1.15 +/- 0.09 and 1.12 +/- 0.05, respectively. For the 29-34 days age group, they were 1.14 +/- 0.05 before vagotomy and 1.19 +/- 0.08 after vagotomy. These differences in the ApEn (complexity) values of the phrenic neurogram before and after vagotomy are not statistically different at each age group. However, the mean mean approximate entropy (complexity) values between the 3-7 days age group and the other two groups were significantly different both before and after vagotomy (p < 0.05) using an analysis off variance test. These results suggest that the vagus nerve may not be mature during early maturation in piglets.