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J Appl Physiol (December 20, 2002). doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00052.2002
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Submitted on January 22, 2002
Accepted on September 25, 2002

Upper airway muscle paralysis reduces the reflex upper airway motor response to negative transmural pressure in the rat

Stephen Ryan1, Stephen Ryan1, Walter T McNicholas2, Walter T McNicholas2, Ronan G O'Regan1, Ronan G O'Regan1, Philip Nolan1, and Philip Nolan1*

1 Departments of Human Anatomy and Physiology, Conway Institute for Biomolecular ans Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
2 Medicine and Therapeutics, Respiratory sleep disorders unit, St. Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: philip.nolan{at}ucd.ie.

The reflex upper airway (UA) motor response to upper airway negative pressure (UANP) is attenuated by neuromuscular blockade. We hypothesized that this is due to a reduction in the sensitivity of laryngeal mechanoreceptors to changes in UA pressure. We examined the effect of neuromuscular blockade on hypoglossal motor responses to UANP and to asphyxia in 15 anaesthetized, thoracotomized, artificially ventilated rats. The activity of laryngeal mechanoreceptors is influenced by contractions of laryngeal and tongue muscles, so we studied the effect of selective denervation of these muscle groups on the UA motor response to UANP and to asphyxia, recording from the pharyngeal branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve (n = 11). We also examined the effect of tongue and laryngeal muscle denervation on superior laryngeal nerve (SLN) afferent activity at different airway transmural pressures (n = 6). Neuromuscular blockade and denervation of laryngeal and tongue muscles significantly reduced baseline UA motor nerve activity (P < 0.05), caused a small but significant attenuation of the motor response to asphyxia, and markedly attenuated the response to UANP. Motor denervation of tongue and laryngeal muscles significantly decreased SLN afferent activity and altered the response to UANP. We conclude that skeletal muscle relaxation reduces the reflex UA motor response to UANP, and this may be due to a reduction in the excitability of UA motor systems as well as a decrease of the response of SLN afferents to UANP.




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