Cortical control of Hering-Breuer reflexes in anesthetized rats

It had been hypothesized that the regions of prefrontal cortex which are involved in respiratory control can modulate Hering-Breuer reflexes evoked by vagal input from pulmonary stretch receptors. In the present study, experiments were performed on urethane anesthetized spontaneously breathing Wistar rats. The expiratory-promoting reflex was evaluated from changes in expiratory time immediately after airway occlusion at the end of inspiration. The inspiratory-inhibitory reflex was estimated from changes in inspiratory time provoked by airway occlusion at the end of expiration. The results indicate that electrical microstimulation of the responsive sites within the insular cortex significantly weakened both expiratory-promoting and inspiratory-inhibitory reflex. Activation of the infralimbic cortex depressed expiratory-promoting reflex, but inspiratory-inhibitory reflex was enhanced. These results suggest that stimulation of the prefrontal cortex influences vagally mediated control of the respiratory phases timing and several regions of the prefrontal cortex modulate distinct sets of neurons in the network controlling inspiratory and expiratory phases of a breath cycle.