Effect of phase shifts in pressure-flow relationship on response to inspiratory resistance

Inspiratory prolongation is an integral component of the response to added inspiratory resistance. To ascertain whether this response depends on the relation between inspiratory flow (V) and the pressure perturbation, we compared the responses when this relationship was made progressively less distinct by creating phase shifts between V and the resulting negative mouth pressure (Pm). This was done with an apparatus that altered Pm in proportion to V (J. Appl. Physiol. 62:2491-2499, 1987). V was passed through low-pass electronic filters of different frequency responses before serving as the command signal to the apparatus. In six normal subjects the average neural inspiratory duration (TI) response (delta TI) was sharply (P less than 0.01) reduced (0.32 +/- 0.07 to 0.12 +/- 0.07 s) when the filter's frequency response decreased from 7.5 to 3.0 Hz. The TI response was essentially flat between tube resistance (i.e., no lag, delta TI = 0.36 +/- 0.11 s) and the 7.5-Hz filter, and there was no further change in TI response with filters having a frequency response less than 3.0 Hz, with all TI responses in this range being not significant. Subjects could not consciously perceive a difference between various filter settings. We conclude that the TI response is critically influenced by the phase of the negative pressure wave relative to TI. Furthermore the TI responses are not deliberate, although consciousness is required for their elicitation.