Influence of acute lung volume change on contractile properties of human diaphragm

Michael I. Polkey*, Carl Hugo Hamnegård, Philip D. Hughes, Gerrard F. Rafferty, Malcolm Green, John Moxham

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The effect of stimulus frequency on the in vivo pressure generating capacity of the human diaphragm is unknown at lung volumes other than functional residual capacity. The transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) produced by a pair of phrenic nerve stimuli may be viewed as the sum of the Pdi elicited by the first (T1 Pdi) and second (T2 Pdi) stimuli. We used bilateral anterior supramaximal magnetic phrenic nerve stimulation and a digital subtraction technique to obtain the T2 Pdi at interstimulus intervals of 999, 100, 50, 33, and 10 ms in eight normal subjects at lung volumes between residual volume and total lung capacity. The reduction in T2 Pdi that we observed as lung volume increased was greatest at long interstimulus intervals, whereas the T2 Pdi obtained with short interstimulus intervals remained relatively stable over the 50% of vital capacity around functional residual capacity. For all interstimulus intervals, the total pressure produced by the pair decreased as a function of increasing lung volume. These data demonstrate that, in the human diaphragm, hyperinflation has a disproportionately severe effect on the summation of pressure responses elicited by low-frequency stimulations; this effect is distinct from and additional to the known length-tension relationship.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1322-1328
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Applied Physiology
Volume85
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 1998

Keywords

  • Hyperinflation
  • Paired phrenic nerve stimuli

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Influence of acute lung volume change on contractile properties of human diaphragm'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this