Electrical stimulation of intercostal muscles was employed to measure thoracic gas volume (TGV) during airway occlusion in the absence of respiratory effort at different levels of lung inflation. In 15 tracheostomized and mechanically ventilated CBA/Ca mice, the value of TGV obtained from the spontaneous breathing effort available in the early phase of the experiments (TGVsp) was compared with those resulting from muscle stimulation (TGVst) at transrespiratory pressures (Prs) of 0, 10 and 20 cmH₂O. A very strong correlation (r²=0.97) was found, although with a systematically (~16%) higher estimation of TGVst relative to TGVsp, attributable to the different durations of the stimulated (~50 ms) and spontaneous (~200 ms) contractions. Measurements of TGVst before and after injections of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 ml of nitrogen into the lungs in 6 mice resulted in good agreement between the change in TGVst and the injected volume (r²=0.98). In 4 mice, TGVsp and TGVst were compared at end-expiration with air or a helium-oxygen mixture to confirm the validity of isothermal compression in the alveolar gas. The TGVst values measured at zero Prs in all CBA/Ca mice [0.29±0.05(SD) ml], and in C57BL/6 (N=6; 0.34±0.08 ml) and BALB/c (N=6; 0.28±0.06 ml) mice were in agreement with FRC values from previous studies in which different techniques were used. This method is particularly useful when TGV is to be determined in the absence of breathing activity; when it must be known at any level of lung inflation or under nonsteady-state conditions, such as during pharmaceutical interventions.