Voluntary activation of the diaphragm after inspiratory pressure threshold loading

After a bout of isolated inspiratory work, such as inspiratory pressure threshold loading (IPTL), the human diaphragm can exhibit a reversible loss in contractile function, as evidenced by a decrease in transdiaphragmatic twitch pressure (P_DI,TW ). Whether or not diaphragm fatigability after IPTL is affected by neural mechanisms, measured through voluntary activation of the diaphragm (D-VA) in addition to contractile mechanisms, is unknown. It is also unknown if changes in D-VA are similar between sexes given observed differences in diaphragm fatigability between males and females. We sought to determine whether D-VA decreases after IPTL and whether this was different between sexes. Healthy females (n = 11) and males (n = 10) completed an IPTL task with an inspired duty cycle of 0.7 and targeting an intensity of 60% maximal transdiaphragmatic pressure until task failure. P_DI,TW and D-VA were measured using cervical magnetic stimulation of the phrenic nerves in combination with maximal inspiratory pressure maneuvers. At task failure, P_DI,TW decreased to a lesser degree in females vs. males (87 ± 15 vs. 73 ± 12% baseline, respectively, p = 0.016). D-VA decreased after IPTL but was not different between females and males (91 ± 8 vs. 88 ± 10% baseline, respectively, p = 0.432). When all participants were pooled together, the decrease in P_DI,TW correlated with both the total cumulative diaphragm pressure generation (R²  = 0.43; p = 0.021) and the time to task failure (TTF, R² = 0.40; p = 0.30) whereas the decrease in D-VA correlated only with TTF (R²  = 0.24; p = 0.041). Our results suggest that neural mechanisms can contribute to diaphragm fatigability, and this contribution is similar between females and males following IPTL.