Expiratory effects of vagal stimulation in newborn kittens

Expiratory effects of electrical stimulation of vagal afferents were studied in 12 kittens during the first week of life. Animals anesthetized with ketamine (30 mg/kg, im) and acepromazine (1.1 mg/kg, im), tracheostomized, and paralyzed were artificially ventilated after bilateral vagotomy. Rectified and "integrated" activity of the C5 root of phrenic nerve, systemic blood pressure, and the stimulus train were recorded. The optimal stimulus parameters for expiratory prolongation were chosen. The results varied between animals. We found three types of response: A, expiratory prolongation when stimulus was applied within the initial 80% of control expiratory time (TEc); beyond this delay, a decreased response or no effect was observed in four kittens; B, graded expiratory prolongation was recorded to the end of this phase in three kittens; and C, expiratory prolongation when stimulus delay was less than 40% of TEc and expiratory shortening when the stimulus given with greater delays was observed in one kitten. Nonsignificant effects were observed in the remaining four animals. Types A and B of response suggest activation of the slowly adapting pulmonary stretch receptors. However, amplitude of stimulus and frequency of pulses were higher than those used in adult animals. Type C response indicates that fibers from both rapidly and slowly adapting stretch receptors could be activated. Our results imply that if the expiratory insensitive phase is present in kittens, it can be affected by experimental conditions. This is in contradiction to characteristics of expiratory response to vagal stretch receptor input in adult cats.