Contributions of the Pre-Bötzinger Complex and the Kölliker-Fuse Nuclei to Respiratory Rhythm and Pattern Generation in Awake and Sleeping Goats

We investigated in three groups of awake and sleeping goats whether there are differences in ventilatory responses after injections of Ibotenic acid (IA, glutamate receptor agonist and neurotoxin) into the pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC), lateral parabrachial (LPBN), medial (MPBN) parabrachial, or Kölliker-Fuse nuclei (KFN). In one group, within minutes after bilateral injection of 10 μl IA (50 mM) into the preBötC, there was a 10-fold increase in breathing frequency, but 1.5 h later, the goats succumbed to terminal apnea. These data are consistent with findings in reduced preparations that the preBötC is critical to sustaining normal breathing. In a second group, increasing volumes (0.5–10 μl) of IA injected at weekly intervals into the preBötC elicited a near-dose-dependent tachypnea and irregular breathing that lasted at least 5 h. There were apneas restricted to wakefulness, but none were terminal. Postmortem histology revealed that the preBötC was 90% destroyed, but there was a 25–40% above normal number of neurons in the presumed parafacial respiratory group that may have contributed to maintenance of arterial blood gas homeostasis. In a third group, bilateral injections (1 and 10 μl) of IA into the LPBN, MPBN, or KFN did not significantly increase breathing in any group, and there were no terminal apneas. However, 3–5 h after the injections into the KFN, breathing frequency was decreased and the three-phase eupneic breathing pattern was eliminated. Between 10 and 15 h after the injections, the eupneic breathing pattern was not consistently restored to normal, breathing frequency remained attenuated, and there were apneas during wakefulness. Our findings during wakefulness and NREM sleep warrant concluding that (a) the preBötC is a primary site of respiratory rhythm generation; (b) the preBötC and the KFN are determinants of respiratory pattern generation; (c) after IA-induced lesions, there is time-dependent plasticity within the respiratory control network; and (d) ventilatory control mechanisms are state dependent