Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Mar:237:57-67.
doi: 10.1016/j.resp.2016.12.010. Epub 2016 Dec 22.

Neural control of ventilation prevents both over-distension and de-recruitment of experimentally injured lungs

Lukas Brander  1 , Onnen Moerer  2 , Göran Hedenstierna  3 , Jennifer Beck  4 , Jukka Takala  5 , Arthur S Slutsky  6 , Christer Sinderby  7
Affiliations
Free article

Neural control of ventilation prevents both over-distension and de-recruitment of experimentally injured lungs

Lukas Brander et al. Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2017 Mar.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Endogenous pulmonary reflexes may protect the lungs during mechanical ventilation. We aimed to assess integration of continuous neurally adjusted ventilatory assist (cNAVA), delivering assist in proportion to diaphragm's electrical activity during inspiration and expiration, and Hering-Breuer inflation and deflation reflexes on lung recruitment, distension, and aeration before and after acute lung injury (ALI).

Methods: In 7 anesthetised rabbits with bilateral pneumothoraces, we identified adequate cNAVA level (cNAVAAL) at the plateau in peak ventilator pressure during titration procedures before (healthy lungs with endotracheal tube, [HLETT]) and after ALI (endotracheal tube [ALIETT] and during non-invasive ventilation [ALINIV]). Following titration, cNAVAAL was maintained for 5min. In 2 rabbits, procedures were repeated after vagotomy (ALIETT+VAG). In 3 rabbits delivery of assist was temporarily modulated to provide assist on inspiration only. Computed tomography was performed before intubation, before ALI, during cNAVA titration, and after maintenance at cNAVAAL.

Results: During ALIETT and ALINIV, normally aerated lung-regions doubled and poorly aerated lung-regions decreased to less than a third (p<0.05) compared to HLETT; no over-distension was observed. Tidal volumes were<5ml/kg throughout. Removing assist during expiration resulted in lung de-recruitment during ALIETT, but not during ALINIV. During ALIETT+VAG the expiratory portion of EAdi disappeared, resulting in cyclic lung collapse and recruitment.

Conclusions: When using cNAVA in ALI, vagally mediated reflexes regulated lung recruitment preventing both lung over-distension and atelectasis. During non-invasive cNAVA the upper airway muscles play a role in preventing atelectasis. Future studies should be performed to compare these findings with conventional lung-protective approaches.

Keywords: Acute respiratory failure; CT scan; Diaphragm electrical activity; Mechanical ventilation; Neural control of breathing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types