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Published on: January 10, 2013
Inhibition of ventilatory motor output increases expiratory retro palatal compliance during sleep
Abdul Ghani Sankri-Tarbichi1, James A Rowley, M Safwan Badr
1Wayne State University Sleep Research Laboratory, John D. Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 4646 John R, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. atarbich@med.wayne.edu
Unlabelled:
We hypothesized that inhibition of ventilatory motor output leads to increased pharyngeal compliance during NREM sleep, independent of lung volume.
Methods:
Eighteen subjects were studied using noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) to inhibit ventilatory motor output during stable NREM sleep. Nasopharyngoscopy was used to measure the retro palatal cross-sectional area/pressure relationship (CSA/Pph) in 8 subjects. The effect of NPPV on neck circumference (NC) and end-expiratory lung volumes (EELV) was studied in 10 additional subjects using strain gauge plethysmography and respitrace, respectively.
Results:
(1) The CSA/Pph was increased during expiration under passive compared to active breathing (11.7 ± 7.1 vs. 8.5 ± 5.6mm(2)/cmH(2)O, respectively; p < 0.05) but not during inspiration. (2) NC correlated with the CSA/Pph during passive expiration (R(2) = 0.77, p < 0.05). (3) NC and EELV did not change between active and passive breaths (p = NS).
Conclusions:
(1) Inhibiting the ventilatory motor output increases the pharyngeal compliance. (2) Increased passive expiratory pharyngeal compliance was not associated with changes in NC or EELV.
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