Diaphragmatic activity during rem sleep in the adult cat.
Orem, John, and Cary A. Anderson.
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University
Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, 79430
APStracts 3:0143A, 1996.
Diaphragmatic electromyograms from five adult cats were studied to
determine whether diaphragmatic activity, like central respiratory
activity, increases in REM sleep. Breaths with inspiratory durations
between 250 and 2000 ms were analyzed. 1) There was a greater slope
of the moving time average of diaphragmatic activity in REM than in
NREM sleep. These greater slopes occurred whether the route of
breathing was through the upper airways or through an endotracheal
tube and may have resulted from early recruitment of motor units. 2)
Mean diaphragmatic activity was also greater, but other variables
(peak activity, the area under the curve of diaphragmatic activity,
mean intratracheal pressures, inspiratory airflow rates and tidal
volumes) were not greater in REM than in NREM sleep. 3) Diaphragmatic
activity was similar in REM sleep and active wakefulness. 4) Across
states, slope of the moving time average varied with the duration of
inspiration (TI): greater slopes were associated with shorter
breaths. These results are consistent with an increase in central
respiratory drive in REM sleep that increases the rate of rise of
diaphragmatic activity.
Received 22 August 1995; accepted in final form 1 March 1996.
APS Manuscript Number A919-5.
Article publication pending Journal of Applied Physiology.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 20 March 96