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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Assessment of Respiratory Function in Conscious Mice by Double-chamber Plethysmography
Published on: July 10, 2018
Deep inhalation prevents the respiratory elastance response to methacholine in rats
Cyril Schweitzer1, Bruno Demoulin, Gaelle Bello
1Laboratoire de Physiologie, Faculté de Médecine, F-54505 Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France.
Abstract:
The bronchodilator effect of deep inhalation (DI) may be assessed from the time course of respiratory system resistance (Rrs) and reactance (Xrs) measured by the forced oscillation technique at a single frequency. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of DI in the closed chest rat. Under anesthesia and mechanical ventilation, seven Brown Norway rats were given regular DI (BN-di) and six underwent continuous tidal ventilation (BN) throughout an otherwise similar methacholine (Mch) challenge protocol. Rrs and Xrs were monitored at 20 Hz and apparent respiratory system elastance (Ers) was computed from Xrs. After Mch nebulization, there was a significant increase in Rrs and Ers compared with saline. Ers, but not Rrs, decreased after the DI and BN-di were found to have lower Ers than BN. Thus, DI significantly alters Ers and its response to Mch. Computer simulations suggested reversal of increased viscoelasticity and/or inhomogeneous behavior by the DI in that model.
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