title: The respiratory pump: past and present understanding.
abstract: The history of our understanding of the respiratory system has been long and progressive, probably starting with Galenus who did experimental spinal cord sections, and progressed through the poorly known work of Leonardo da Vinci on the structure-function relation of chest wall components.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite numerous experiments in the past, the respiratory control system remains complex and poorly integrated because of the diversity of the afferent pathways and of the interacting respiratory centres.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. hugo.Devlieger@uz.kuleuven.ac.be
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Devlieger
mesh_terms: D003964:Diaphragm / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena; D013909:Thorax / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*