[Significance of the corpus callosum in the paired activity of the respiratory center].

The asymmetrical reactions of respiratory neurons of the right and left halves of the respiratory center and varied changes in bioelectrical activity of external intercostal muscles on both sides of the chest were discovered in experiments on anesthetized cats in response to successive electrical stimulation of the symmetrical cortical areas of the right and left cerebral hemispheres before and after callosotomy. It was demonstrated that callosotomy increased on both sides of the respiratory center the quantity of neurons responsive to ipsilateral cortical stimulation and determined the character of the asymmetrical reactions of right and left respiratory neurons and intercostal muscles. On the basis of the data obtained it is concluded that the corpus callosum contributes to the functional integration of both halves of the respiratory center.