Effects of hypercapnia and flow-resistive loading on tracheal pressure during airway occlusion

To determine whether the isometric force of concentration of the inspiratory muscles could be used to assess respiratory efferent neural activity, the tracheal pressure generated by the inspiratory muscles during airway occlusion (occluded tracheal pressure) was measured during progressive hypercapnia in anesthetized dogs breathing normally and breathing against added flow-resistive loads. Hypercapnia increased the peak end-inspiratory tracheal pressure and the occluded tracheal pressures generated 100, 200, and 300 ms after the onset of inspiration. The duration of the occluded inspiratory effort generally remained unchanged and the configuration of the pressure tracing was not affected. During normal breathing occluded tracheal pressures increased linearly with tidal volume and with the electrical activity of the diaphragm and the external intercostal muscles both before and after vagotomy. Inspiratory flow-resistive loading reduced the ventilatory response to CO2 but did not affect occluded tracheal pressures at any given PCO2 or the change in pressures with hypercapnia both before and after vagotomy. Similarly, expiratory flow-resistive loading failed to affect occluded tracheal pressures. These results suggest that occluded tracheal pressures measure respiratory efferent neural activity and can be used as indices of CO2 responsivity even during mechanical loading in anesthetized animals.