Vagal afferents essential for abdominal muscle activity during lung inflation in cats

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Abstract
Maintained inflation of the lung evokes abdominal muscle activity in anesthetized cats only if the vagus nerves are intact, indicating the importance of vagal receptors. The location of these receptors was determined in 14 anesthetized cats by comparing prevagotomy inflation responses of the abdominal muscles and diaphragm to the responses obtained after section of the thoracic vagi at 1 of 3 different levels. The abdominal muscle and diaphragm responses to maintained lung inflation persisted following vagotomy below the roots of the lung or denervation of the heart and great vessels. Denervation at the root of the lung, abolished the abdominal muscle response and the Hering-Breuer inflation reflex of the diaphragm. Pulmonary receptors are apparently essential for the abdominal expiratory activity but vagal receptors in the abdomen, esophagus, trachea, heart and great vessels are not.