Reflex compensation of spontaneous breathing when immersion changes diaphragm length

We measured tidal volume (VT), chest wall dimensions, end-tidal PCO2, and respiratory muscle electromyograms as seated subjects were immersed in water. We studied nine spontaneously breathing subjects; five were uninformed. Raising the water to xiphoid level pushed the abdomen in and expanded the rib cage at end expiration. This increased the diaphragm's operating length, giving it a contractile advantage, and shortened the inspiratory intercostals, giving them a contractile disadvantage. Peak inspiratory activities of both muscle groups decreased; inspiratory time (TI), respiratory frequency (f), and VT were unchanged. The experiments thus demonstrated operational length compensation during immersion and further showed that inspiratory muscle activation is not adjusted locally, according to changes in each muscle's length, but rather that the response is global. Xiphoid-to-shoulder immersion was less easily interpreted, since both rib cage and abdomen were compressed, lengthening both inspiratory muscles. Our subjects continued to maintain VT, f, and TI. Peak inspiratory activities of both muscles were further reduced. We do not attribute the change in inspiratory muscle activation to altered chemical drive or to voluntary response. Rather, the response appears to be a mechanoreceptive reflex that employs afferent information from the lungs or diaphragm to adjust all inspiratory muscle activities.