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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Jan 15.
Published in final edited form as: Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2011 Oct 12;180(1):1–7. doi: 10.1016/j.resp.2011.10.002

Fig. 2. Expiratory and inspiratory spinal motor activity produced by an adult vertebrate brainstem-spinal cord preparation.

Fig. 2

(A) A drawing of an isolated brainstem-spinal cord preparation from an adult turtle shows that respiratory-related motor activity is produced on pectoralis (expiratory) and serratus (inspiratory) nerves. (B) Rhythmic expiratory and inspiratory motor activity on nerves is correlated with respiratory activity on hypoglossal nerve roots in the brainstem. (C) Expiratory activity on pectoralis is typically bell-shaped while inspiratory activity on serratus is slowly-incrementing and rapidly decrementing. The resistance of turtle brain and spinal cord to hypoxia allows this preparation to produce spinal respiratory activity similar to intact adult turtles (discussed in Johnson et al., 1998). In contrast, the nature of respiratory-related motor output produced by neonatal rodent brainstem-spinal cord preparations is controversial. Abbreviations: KF = Kölliker-Fuse nucleus; PB = parabrachial nucleus; pFRG = para-facial group; preBötC = pre-Bötzinger Complex; VRC = ventral respiratory column.