Partitioning of immediate ventilatory stability to added elastic loads in cats

ventilatory stability to added elastic loads in cats. J. Appl. Physiol. 30(6): 8 14-5 19. 197 1.-The effective elastance of the respiratory system was measured in four lightly anesthetized tracheotomized cats a) after alpha-motor blockade of the intercostal muscles, b) during electrophrenic stimulation, and c) after bilateral cervical vagot-omy. It was determined that immediate load compensation in the cat is provided chiefly by the diaphragm and the intercostal mus-cles. The former contribution is largely a function of the dia-phragm’s intrinsic properties, whereas the intercostal response results from recruitment of additional motor units and is depend-ent on the integrity of the vagus. effective elastance; immediate load compensation; intrinsic prop-erties of the diaphragm; intercostal motor units; vagus VENTILATORY STABILITY has been defined as the tendency of the respiratory system to withstand a change in tidal vol