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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Pulm Pharmacol Ther. 2015 Nov 5;35:105–110. doi: 10.1016/j.pupt.2015.10.012

Figure 1. Proposed model of NTS/RF circuit for airway protection.

Figure 1

This circuit incorporates hypotheses on the coordination of cough and swallow, and preliminary results from recordings of NTS neurons. In the left section of the upper red box, a swallow oscillator circuit consisting of swallow burst and oscillator neurons is represented [1]. This circuit inhibits phasic cough inspiratory and expiratory neurons proposed to form a cough oscillatory network in the NTS/RF. The left side of the figure also shows excitatory drive to hypoglossal motoneuron pools from the swallow burst population. Preclinical experiments have identified NTS/RF neurons that are candidates for each population in the red box. The terms weak and strong represent synaptic excitation from the Exp Dec and I Driver populations, respectively, to the swallow oscillator population. These processes have been modeled [1]. Abbreviations: I-inspiratory, E-expiratory, Dec-decrementing, Aug-augmenting, VRC ventral respiratory column, Hyp-hypoglossal.