Abstract

This experiment was performed to determine whether the natural movement of knee joint can cause the enhancement of respiratory function or not by observation of the changes of respiratory rate and phrenic nerve activity to the stimulation of knee joint in cats anesthetized with alpha-chloralose. To stimulate selectively the groups I and II joint afferents which were thought to be activated by normal joint movement, chemical, movement and electrical stimulation were applied to the knee joint. The results presented in this paper lead to the conclusion that the respiratory center could be directly stimulated by the activation of groups I and II articular afferents and that the magnitude of the respiratory center enhancement seems to be proportional to the amount of sensory information from the knee joint. These facts might suggest that the respiratory function could be enhanced even by the normal movement of the knee joint. Verf.-Referat (gekuerzt)