Within breath ventilatory responses to mechanical tracheal stimulation in anaesthetised rabbits

Ventilatory responses to airway mechanical stimulation usually consist in mixed cough (CR) and expiration (ER) reflexes. The stimulus characteristics that would favour either reflex may vary with breathing, but the issue cannot be addressed with the usual long lasting stimulus. The aim of the study was to describe respiratory responses evoked by a punctuate tracheal stimulus and their relationship to inspiration and expiration. Experiments were repeated after bronchoconstriction. Eight anesthetized tracheotomized rabbits were stimulated in the trachea by 150 ms probing before and after methacholine inhalation (248 tests). CR and ER were evaluated from tidal volume and expiratory flow. The overall incidence of responses was larger in inspiration than expiration (p < 0.0001). A majority of responses were single CR or ER, also strongly related to breathing: 93% CR occurred with the stimulus in inspiration and 78% ER with the stimulus in expiration (p = 0.001). Bronchoconstriction did not change the incidence of single efforts, increased that of mixed responses and decreased the amplitude of preparatory and expulsive phases of CR. The study demonstrates the strong dependence of CR and ER on the phase of breathing and adds to the current evidence that regulating mechanisms clearly differ for each reflex.