The effects of acetylcholine on bulbar respiratory related neurones. Consequences of anaesthesia by pentobarbital.

The effects of cholinergic agonists and antagonists applied by microiontophoresis to bulbar respiratory neurones were determined in different preparations: cats anaesthetized by pentobarbital and immobilized by gallamine triethiodide, intercollicular decerebrate cats either not immobilized or immobilized by gallamine triethiodide. Respiratory neurones located at the bulbar level exhibited a muscarinic cholinergic sensitivity in all preparations. Muscarinic responses were either excitatory or inhibitory. The number of neurones showing excitatory responses was lower under pentobarbital anaesthesia than in decerebrate cats.