title: Workshop: tuning the 'cough center'.
abstract: The Workshop considered the mechanisms whereby the 'cough center' could be tuned by various afferent inputs. There were particular presentations on the effects of inputs from the nose, mouth, respiratory tract and lungs, cerebral cortex, somatic tissues and the pharynx. From all these sites cough induced from the lungs could be increased or decreased in its strength or modified in its pattern. Thus 'tuning' of cough could be due to the interaction of afferent inputs, or to the sensitization or desensitization of brainstem neural pathways. The pattern of response depended on the 'type' of cough being studied and, in some instances, on the timing of the sensory input into the brainstem. Cough inputs could also affect various 'non-cough' motor outputs from the brain, although this was not the main theme of the Workshop. The main conclusion was that cough is not a stereotyped output from the medullary 'cough center', but that its pattern and strength depend on many afferent inputs acting on the 'cough center'.
authors.affiliation: University of London, 116 Pepys Road, London SW20 8NY, UK. JohnWiddicombeJ@aol.com
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Widdicombe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tatar
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fontana
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hanacek
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Davenport
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lavorini
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bolser
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000378:metabolism*; D003371:Cough / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D012018:Reflex; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology