Linkage between brain blood flow and respiratory drive during rapid-eye-movement sleep.
The correlation between brain blood flow (BBF) and respiratory neuromotor output, as reflected by diaphragmatic electromyogram (EMG) activity (EMGdi), was studied during wakefulness, rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, and non-REM sleep (NREM). Compared with the awake state, mean BBF increased by 4.7% during NREM and by 32.6% during REM (P less than 0.001). Also, surges of BBF during REM occurred during periods of intense phasic activity. EMGdi [peak and peak/inspiratory time (TI)] was highly variable within REM periods but fluctuated as a reciprocal function of simultaneously measured BBf (r = -0.49, P less than 0.001). Furthermore, mean EMGdipeak decreased from NREM to REM in a manner reciprocally related to the corresponding change in BBF (r = -0.77, P = 0.015). These findings suggest that a component of the reduction of respiratory neuromotor output during REM is attributable to increased BBF with consequent relative hypocapnia in the central chemoreceptor environment.
Parisi
R A
RA
Department of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick 08903-0019.
Neubauer
J A
JA
Frank
M M
MM
Santiago
T V
TV
Edelman
N H
NH
D000818:Animals; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D004576:Electromyography; D006041:Goats; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology