Characteristics of sustained graded inspiratory inhibition by phasic lung volume changes.

The dynamic characteristics of graded reversible inspiratory inhibition by vagal feedback were investigated in pentobarbital-anesthetized paralyzed cats, ventilated with a servo respirator. The volume and time associated with various levels of graded inhibition were determined by using a series of constant-flow lung inflations. Protracted phrenic inhibition was produced by lung inflation, which was arrested when the phrenic discharge was partially inhibited. Thereafter, the volume was withdrawn along a trajectory that approximately paralleled the fall in inhibitory threshold. This volume-withdrawal trajectory would be expected to produce a sustained nearly constant level of inhibition based on the results determined from the constant-flow inflations. However, the observed inhibition exceeded that expected, increasing to a maximum and then decreasing to expected values over a period ranging from 1 to 2 s in most animals. This excess inhibition cannot be attributed to the known dynamic properties of pulmonary stretch receptors; their activity should be reduced, for any particular lung volume, during the volume withdrawal maneuver. These results suggest a central integrative processing of vagal afferent activity that causes inhibition to lag volume. This delay acts to promote inspiratory off-switching because it prevents the development of a protracted period of reversible inhibition.