Lack of importance of the superior laryngeal nerves in citric acid cough in humans

Abstract

The relative importance of laryngeal afferents in the cough reflex in humans is unknown. This study was designed to investigate the importance of superior laryngeal nerve afferents in the cough reflex induced by inhaled nebulized citric acid in awake humans. Nine healthy volunteers had their cough thresholds to inhaled nebulized citric acid measured after superior laryngeal nerve conduction blockade and after a sham nerve block. Of the nine subjects, four showed no change in cough threshold after superior laryngeal nerve anesthesia, three showed increased cough threshold after nerve block compared with no block, and two showed decreased cough threshold after nerve block. The geometric means of the cough thresholds for the nerve block vs. sham block tests were 16 +/- 13 (SD) and 15 +/- 8% citric acid, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference (Wilcoxon signed-rank test) between the cough thresholds with and without superior laryngeal nerve block (P > 0.05). We conclude that, in the awake human, superior laryngeal nerve afferents do not play a necessary role in initiation of citric acid-induced cough.