Effects of medullary area I(s) cooling on respiratory response to chemoreceptor inputs

The effect on respiration, as measured by phrenic nerve activity, of bilateral graded cooling of the intermediate, or I(s), areas of the ventral medulla was determined in anesthetized, vagotomized, glomectomized and paralyzed cats. In addition the effect of cooling the I(s) areas on the responses to central and peripheral chemoreceptor afferent test stimuli were studied. When end-tidal PCO2 was kept constant, graded cooling of the I(s) areas led to graded reductions of phrenic activity and arterial pressure. Furthermore, the respiratory response to test stimuli (carotid sinus nerve or CO2) was decreased progressively during graded cooling of the I(s) areas from 40 degrees C to 20 degrees C. We conclude that area I(s) is part of a common pathway for afferent input from both the central and peripheral chemoreceptors and that it is involved in the initial integration of both inputs.