Integration of chemoreceptor stimuli by caudal pontile and rostral medullary sites

Ventilatory regulation by pontile pneumotaxic and apneustic centers and by rostral medullary sites was evaluated in intercollicular decerebrate cats. Following pneumotaxic center ablation, PAco2 was significantly elevated. Moreover, in response to hypercapina or hypoxia, frequency responses were significantly diminished whereas tidal volume responses were unchanged or elevated. Interruption of apneustic center function by caudal pontile transection or radiofrequency lesions in the caudal pons and/or rostral medulla resulted in significant decreases of tidal volume responses and significant elevations of frequency responses to both hypercapnia and hypoxia. Neither minute volume responses nor the PAco2 level was altered. It is concluded that the apneustic center exercises a primary role in the brainstem definition of tidal volume responses for both peripheral and central chemoreceptor afferent stimuli. The apneustic center is also considered to exert an impoetant function in the definition of respiratory frequency. A medially placed pathway in the rostral medulla is proposed to interconnect the apneustic center with the medullary respiratory nuclei.