Localization of stretch and deflation receptors in the airways of the rabbit.

The localization of pulmonary stretch and deflation receptors was studied in anaesthetized, paralysed and artificially ventilated rabbits by recording the afferent activity in the vagus nerve while moving a double lumen balloon catheter along the tracheo-bronchial tree. The distributions of the two types of receptors were found to be parallel, with a proportion of 4 stretch receptors for 1 deflation receptor. A statistical analysis of the experimental results demonstrated that the distribution between stretch and deflation receptors was unbiased by the sampling procedure. However, in the localization of the stretch receptors along the tracheobronchial tree, there was a sampling bias, which constitutes a limit to the quantification of the results.