Effects of ethanol on expiratory neuronal activities in decerebrated cats

The effects of ethanol on two types of bulbar expiratory neurones, post-inspiratory (early expiratory) and expiratory (late expiratory) neurones, were studied in decerebrated, paralyzed and artificially ventilated cats. Intravenous injection of ethanol (300 mg/kg) depressed the efferent activity in the phrenic and recurrent laryngeal nerves which displayed the augmenting discharge during inspiration and the decrementing discharge during the early stage of expiration (stage I expiration). It reduced the duration of expiration, with a preferential effect on stage I expiration. Out of 22 medullary respiratory neurones consisting of 14 post-inspiratory and 8 expiratory neurones, 12 neurones were depolarized by ethanol and 10 neurones were hyperpolarized. In both cases, the respiratory fluctuations of membrane potential diminished and synaptic noises decreased. Input resistances of these neurones remained unchanged. Ethanol depressed the spike activity during stage I expiration of the post-inspiratory neurones. In expiratory neurones, a suppression of firing was greater in stage I expiration than in later stages of expiration. The present results demonstrate that ethanol reduces the expiratory period mainly through the depression of the post-inspiratory neuronal activity in the bulbar respiratory control mechanism.