Effects of CO2 and bronchoconstriction on costal and crural diaphragm electromyograms

To determine if neural control of the crural diaphragm is similar to that of the costal diaphragm, electrical activity was recorded from these two parts of the diaphragm in 10 anesthetized dogs during resting O2 breathing and during progressive hyperoxic hypercapnia. Within a breath, the onset of crural diaphragm inspiratory activity started significantly earlier than that of the costal diaphragm under both resting and CO2 stimulated conditions, although the relative delay in costal diaphragm activity was smaller during hypercapnia than during resting O2 breathing. Following hyperventilation to apnea, both parts of the diaphragm resumed activity on the same breath. During CO2 rebreathing, the maximal increase in crural diaphragm peak electrical activity was significantly greater than that of the costal diaphragm. We also examined the effects of histamine-induced bronchoconstriction on diaphragm activity. Following administration of histamine aerosol there was a transient of irregular breathing during which in three animals costal diaphragm activity became nearly quiet, although there was continued activity of the crural diaphragm. Once breathing became more regular, there was a significantly greater stimulation of crural diaphragm than costal diaphragm activity; this difference persisted for 15 min after histamine inhalation. These results support the concept that electrical activity can be distributed nonuniformly to the costal and crural diaphragm and demonstrate that the crural diaphragm has a greater gain with hypercapnia and bronchoconstriction than does the costal diaphragm.