Effects of thoracic volume and shape on electromechanical coupling in abdominal muscles

1984 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 1294-1301 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Hill ◽  
D. L. Kaiser ◽  
D. F. Rochester

To assess the effects of lung volume and chest wall configuration on electromechanical coupling of the abdominal muscles, we examined the relationship between abdominal muscle pressure ( Pmus ) and electrical activity ( EMGab ) in eight normal subjects during expiratory efforts at lung volumes ranging from functional residual capacity (FRC) to FRC + 2.0 liters. At and above FRC, increases of lung volume did not significantly alter either the Pmus - EMGab relationship or abdominal surface linear dimensions, although expiratory efforts displaced the abdomen inward from its relaxed position. We attribute the constancy of delta Pmus /delta EMG above FRC to the negligible effects of increasing lung volume on abdominal configuration and muscle length. Expiratory efforts performed at lung volumes below FRC resulted in a wider range of abdominal indrawing . Under these conditions the EMGab required to augment Pmus by 30–40 cmH2O increased as the abdomen was displaced inward. This decrease of delta Pmus /delta EMGab appears to reflect muscle shortening, flattening of the abdominal wall, and possibly deformation of the rib cage.

1987 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 919-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. De Troyer ◽  
V. Ninane ◽  
J. J. Gilmartin ◽  
C. Lemerre ◽  
M. Estenne

The electrical activity of the triangularis sterni (transversus thoracis) muscle was studied in supine humans during resting breathing and a variety of respiratory and nonrespiratory maneuvers known to bring the abdominal muscles into action. Twelve normal subjects, of whom seven were uninformed and untrained, were investigated. The electromyogram of the triangularis sterni was recorded using a concentric needle electrode, and it was compared with the electromyograms of the abdominal (external oblique and rectus abdominis) muscles. The triangularis sterni was usually silent during resting breathing. In contrast, the muscle was invariably activated during expiration from functional residual capacity, expulsive maneuvers, “belly-in” isovolume maneuvers, static head flexion and trunk rotation, and spontaneous events such as speech, coughing, and laughter. When three trained subjects expired voluntarily with considerable recruitment of the triangularis sterni and no abdominal muscle activity, rib cage volume decreased and abdominal volume increased. These results indicate that unlike in the dog, spontaneous quiet expiration in supine humans is essentially a passive process; the human triangularis sterni, however, is a primary muscle of expiration; and its neural activation is largely coupled with that of the abdominals. The triangularis sterni probably contributes to the deflation of the rib cage during active expiration.


1998 ◽  
Vol 84 (5) ◽  
pp. 1639-1645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Beaumont ◽  
Redouane Fodil ◽  
Daniel Isabey ◽  
Frédéric Lofaso ◽  
Dominique Touchard ◽  
...  

We measured upper airway caliber and lung volumes in six normal subjects in the sitting and supine positions during 20-s periods in normogravity, hypergravity [1.8 + head-to-foot acceleration (Gz)], and microgravity (∼0 Gz) induced by parabolic flights. Airway caliber and lung volumes were inferred by the acoustic reflection method and inductance plethysmography, respectively. In subjects in the sitting position, an increase in gravity from 0 to 1.8 +Gz was associated with increases in the calibers of the retrobasitongue and palatopharyngeal regions (+20 and +30%, respectively) and with a concomitant 0.5-liter increase in end-expiratory lung volume (functional residual capacity, FRC). In subjects in the supine position, no changes in the areas of these regions were observed, despite significant decreases in FRC from microgravity to normogravity (−0.6 liter) and from microgravity to hypergravity (−0.5 liter). Laryngeal narrowing also occurred in both positions (about −15%) when gravity increased from 0 to 1.8 +Gz. We concluded that variation in lung volume is insufficient to explain all upper airway caliber variation but that direct gravity effects on tissues surrounding the upper airway should be taken into account.


1983 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 1269-1276 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Brancatisano ◽  
P. W. Collett ◽  
L. A. Engel

We examined the movements of the vocal cords during tidal breathing, panting, and large changes in lung volume in 12 normal subjects. The glottis was observed with a fiber-optic bronchoscope, and the glottic image was recorded together with flow, volume, and a time marker onto videotape. Phasic respiratory swings in glottic width (dg) and glottic area (Ag) were reproducible in all subjects but differed substantially between subjects. In the group as a whole dg and Ag increased during inspiration to 10.1 +/- 5.6 mm and 126 +/- 8 mm2 (mean +/- SE), respectively, whereas during expiration the lowest values were 5.7 +/- 0.5 mm and 70 +/- 7 mm2, respectively. These extreme dimensions corresponded closely to the midtidal volume points in the respiratory cycle. Glottic width during vital capacity (VC) expirations was nearly 30% greater at a flow of 1.2 l/s than at 0.5 l/s, but the relationship between dg and lung volume differed between subjects. When swings in dg were minimized by panting, there was no difference in dg between functional residual capacity (FRC) and a volume corresponding to midinspiratory capacity. However, tidal breathing at this lung volume was associated with a 20% decrease in dg compared with breathing at FRC. Our observations indicate a tight coupling between the pattern of glottic movement and the respiratory volume cycle. The results suggest that during voluntary respiratory maneuvers both intrinsic laryngeal and respiratory muscles are recruited, participating as effector organs in ventilatory and respiratory control.


1989 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 2189-2195 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Leevers ◽  
J. D. Road

Abdominal muscle length changes and activity were directly examined in vivo with the use of the techniques of sonomicrometry and electromyography, respectively, in nine supine anesthetized dogs. Expiratory threshold loading was utilized to stimulate recruitment of the abdominal muscles, and lung inflations produced the passive relationships. The internal layer, consisting of the internal oblique and transversus abdominis, shortened more in expiration than the external layer, consisting of the external oblique and rectus abdominis. The internal oblique shortened to approximately 83% of its length at functional residual capacity vs. 98% for the external oblique (P less than 0.05). The results obtained during passive lung inflation indicate these internal muscles are also more influenced by changes in lung volume. The internal oblique lengthened to 115% of its length at functional residual capacity vs. 103% for external oblique at total lung capacity (P less than 0.05). The results suggest that anatomic division of the abdominal muscles into external and internal layers corresponds to functional differences in terms of both passive lengthening and active shortening during ventilation and that these differences imply variable functions of the two layers.


1998 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 1322-1328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael I. Polkey ◽  
Carl-Hugo Hamnegård ◽  
Philip D. Hughes ◽  
Gerrard F. Rafferty ◽  
Malcolm Green ◽  
...  

The effect of stimulus frequency on the in vivo pressure generating capacity of the human diaphragm is unknown at lung volumes other than functional residual capacity. The transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) produced by a pair of phrenic nerve stimuli may be viewed as the sum of the Pdi elicited by the first (T1 Pdi) and second (T2 Pdi) stimuli. We used bilateral anterior supramaximal magnetic phrenic nerve stimulation and a digital subtraction technique to obtain the T2 Pdi at interstimulus intervals of 999, 100, 50, 33, and 10 ms in eight normal subjects at lung volumes between residual volume and total lung capacity. The reduction in T2 Pdi that we observed as lung volume increased was greatest at long interstimulus intervals, whereas the T2 Pdi obtained with short interstimulus intervals remained relatively stable over the 50% of vital capacity around functional residual capacity. For all interstimulus intervals, the total pressure produced by the pair decreased as a function of increasing lung volume. These data demonstrate that, in the human diaphragm, hyperinflation has a disproportionately severe effect on the summation of pressure responses elicited by low-frequency stimulations; this effect is distinct from and additional to the known length-tension relationship.


1993 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 696-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Johnston ◽  
K. L. Watkin ◽  
P. T. Macklem

We investigated breathing patterns in stutterers during relatively fluent speech and compared these with normal subjects for similar speech tasks. Rib cage and abdominal displacements and esophageal, gastric, and transdiaphragmatic pressures provided indexes of diaphragmatic, rib cage, and abdominal muscle contraction. We found that stutterers spoke either at substantially higher or lower lung volumes than normal subjects, confining their speech to the inspiratory capacity or expiratory reserve volume. During spontaneous speech, stutterers did not cross functional residual capacity (FRC) for most breaths. In addition, stutterers used several different motion pathways from breath to breath. At high lung volumes stutterers used the diaphragm to provide inspiratory braking. At lung volumes below FRC stutterers recruited their abdominals. This contrasted with normal subjects who spoke in the middle part of the vital capacity and who recruited inspiratory and expiratory rib cage muscles above and below FRC, respectively. Breath sizes were log-normally distributed in stutterers compared with a gaussian distribution in normal subjects (P < 0.001). During reading, stutterers tended to cross FRC (P < 0.01), used very similar initiation lung volumes from breath to breath (P < 0.001), and used similar motion pathways to achieve deflation. We conclude that stutterers sustain fluency by speaking at abnormally high or low lung volumes and that this may account for the different muscle patterns observed in stutterers compared with normal subjects.


1992 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 434-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Cotton ◽  
F. Taher ◽  
J. T. Mink ◽  
B. L. Graham

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the three-equation diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLcoSB-3EQ) and lung volume and to determine how this relationship was altered when maneuvers were immediately preceded by a deep breath. DLcoSB-3EQ maneuvers were performed in nine healthy subjects either immediately after a deep breath or after tidal breathing for 10 min. The maneuvers consisted of slow inhalation of test gas from functional residual capacity to 25, 50, 75, or 100% of the inspiratory capacity and, without breath holding, slow exhalation to residual volume. After either a deep breath or tidal breathing, we found that DLcoSB-3EQ decreased nonlinearly with decreasing lung volume. At all lung volumes, DLcoSB-3EQ was significantly greater when measured after a deep breath than after tidal breathing. This effect increased as lung volume decreased, so that the greatest difference between DLcoSB-3EQ after a deep breath and that after tidal breathing occurred at the lowest lung volume. We conclude that a deep breath or spontaneous sigh has a role in reestablishing the pathway for gas exchange during tidal breathing.


1988 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 2679-2686 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. T. Kariya ◽  
S. A. Shore ◽  
W. A. Skornik ◽  
K. Anderson ◽  
R. H. Ingram ◽  
...  

The maximal effect induced by methacholine (MCh) aerosols on pulmonary resistance (RL), and the effects of altering lung volume and O3 exposure on these induced changes in RL, was studied in five anesthetized and paralyzed dogs. RL was measured at functional residual capacity (FRC), and lung volumes above and below FRC, after exposure to MCh aerosols generated from solutions of 0.1-300 mg MCh/ml. The relative site of response was examined by magnifying parenchymal [RL with large tidal volume (VT) at fast frequency (RLLS)] or airway effects [RL with small VT at fast frequency (RLSF)]. Measurements were performed on dogs before and after 2 h of exposure to 3 ppm O3. MCh concentration-response curves for both RLLS and RLSF were sigmoid shaped. Alterations in mean lung volume did not alter RLLS; however, RLSF was larger below FRC than at higher lung volumes. Although O3 exposure resulted in small leftward shifts of the concentration-response curve for RLLS, the airway dominated index of RL (RLSF) was not altered by O3 exposure, nor was the maximal response using either index of RL. These data suggest O3 exposure does not affect MCh responses in conducting airways; rather, it affects responses of peripheral contractile elements to MCh, without changing their maximal response.


1981 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 650-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. J. Douglas ◽  
G. B. Drummond ◽  
M. F. Sudlow

In six normal subjects forced expiratory flow rates increased progressively with increasing degrees of chest strapping. In nine normal subjects forced expiratory flow rates increased with the time spent breathing with expiratory reserve volume 0.5 liters above residual volume, the increase being significant by 30 s (P less than 0.01), and flow rates were still increasing at 2 min, the longest time the subjects could breathe at this lung volume. The increase in flow after low lung volume breathing (LLVB) was similar to that produced by strapping. The effect of LLVB was diminished by the inhalation of the atropinelike drug ipratropium. Quasistatic recoil pressures were higher following strapping and LLVB than on partial or maximal expiration, but the rise in recoil pressure was insufficient to account for all the observed increased in maximum flow. We suggest that the effects of chest strapping are due to LLVB and that both cause bronchodilatation.


1991 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 1554-1562 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Road ◽  
A. M. Leevers ◽  
E. Goldman ◽  
A. Grassino

Active expiration is produced by the abdominal muscles and the rib cage expiratory muscles. We hypothesized that the relative contribution of these two groups to expiration would affect diaphragmatic length and, hence, influence the subsequent inspiration. To address this question we measured the respiratory muscle response to expiratory threshold loading in spontaneously breathing anesthetized dogs. Prevagotomy, the increase in lung volume (functional residual capacity) and decrease in initial resting length of the diaphragm were attenuated by greater than 50% of values predicted by the passive relationships. Diaphragmatic activation (electromyogram) increased and tidal volume (VT) was preserved. Postvagotomy, effective expiratory muscle recruitment was abolished. The triangularis sterni muscle remained active, and the increase in lung volume was attenuated by less than 15% of that predicted by the passive relationship. Diaphragmatic length was shorter than predicted. VT was not restored, even though costal diaphragmatic and parasternal intercostal electromyogram increased. During expiratory threshold loading with abdominal muscles resected and vagus intact, recruitment of the rib cage expiratory muscles produced a reduction in lung volume comparable with prevagotomy; however, diaphragmatic length decreased markedly. Both the rib cage and abdominal expiratory muscles may defend lung volume; however, their combined action is important to restore diaphragmatic initial length and, accordingly, to preserve VT.


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