The Journal of physiology
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The Journal of physiology · Jan 1969
Muscular, bronchomotor and cardiovascular reflexes elicited by mechanical stimulation of the respiratory tract.
1. The effects of mechanical stimulation in the nose, epipharynx, laryngopharynx and tracheobronchial tree, and of chemical irritation of the nasal mucosa, were studied on various somatic and autonomic functions in cats.2. Action potentials were recorded from the diaphragm and rectus abdominis muscles of spontaneously breathing cats, and from the phrenic and lumbar nerves of paralysed, artificially ventilated cats. ⋯ Nervous activity in cervical sympathetic efferent fibres was increased by the stimulations, especially those of the epipharyngeal and laryngopharyngeal regions.6. There was good correlation in time and magnitude between the changes in total lung resistance and in bronchoconstrictor fibre activity, and also between the changes in blood pressure and in efferent sympathetic discharge, although the mechanical changes lagged behind the nervous ones.7. In anaesthetized, spontaneously breathing cats stimulation of the respiratory tract evoked large variations in blood pressure accompanying the spasmodic respiratory efforts, probably by mechanical effects.