Influence of abdominal muscles, mesenteric viscera and liver on respiratory mechanics

¹ Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Research, Creighton University Medical School, and the Regional Respiratory and Rehabilitation Center, St. Joseph's Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska

In a group of 13 supine, anesthetized cats initial measurement was made of respiratory elastance, total resistance by sinusoidal pressure, total resistance, k₁ and k₂ and their ratio of change from breath to breath, the natural frequency, damping factor and mass factor or inertance, and the functional residual capacity (FRC) and tissue resistance. Comparison was then made with the value obtained by remeasurement in the same cat after a) control operation of mid-line abdominal incision; b) incisions eliminating the effects of the abdominal muscles (mid-line vertical plus transverse incision extended to back); c) evisceration of gastrointestinal tract and spleen and d) evisceration plus hepatectomy. The abdominal response was found to be mainly a surface wave response (at a speed of about 150 cm/sec.) above the natural frequency. The abdominal muscles impose a steady force, more like a weight than a spring, which decreases the FRC. The liver contributes significantly to the mass factor and natural frequency, but the viscera do not. About half the tissue resistance consists of a resistance within the abdomen to respiratory movements; since nearly half the total resistance is tissue resistance, this is nearly one fourth the total resistance to respiration.