Consequences of postural changes and removal of vestibular inputs on the movement of air in and out of the lungs of conscious felines

Abstract

A variety of experimental approaches in human subjects and animal models established that the vestibular system contributes to regulation of respiration. In cats, the surgical elimination of labyrinthine signals produced changes in the spontaneous activity and posturally related responses of a number of respiratory muscles. However, these effects were complex and sometimes varied between muscle compartments, such that the physiological role of vestibulo-respiratory responses is unclear. The present study determined the functional significance of vestibulo-respiratory influences by examining the consequences of a bilateral labyrinthectomy on breathing rate and the pressure, volume, and flow rate of air exchanged during inspiration and expiration as body orientation with respect to gravity was altered. Data were collected from conscious adult cats acclimated to breathing through a facemask connected to a pneuomotach during 60° head-up pitch and ear-down roll body rotations. Removal of vestibular inputs resulted in a 15% reduction in breathing rate, a 13% decrease in minute ventilation, a 16% decrease in maximal inspiratory airflow rate, and a 14% decrease in the maximal expiratory airflow rate measured when the animals were in the prone position. However, the lesions did not appreciably affect phasic changes in airflow parameters related to alterations in posture. These results suggest that the role of the vestibular system in the control of breathing is to modify baseline respiratory parameters in proportion to the general intensity of ongoing movements, and not to rapidly alter ventilation in accordance with body position.