Abstract
The ‘cough center’ exhibits plasticity at the sensor and integration levels leading to modulation of the reflex in its strength or in its pattern. Little is known about interactions between cough and human activities, especially during exercise. The present study was designed to determine whether exercise, mimiked by electrically‐induced muscular contractions, is able to change the occurrence and/or the strenght of cough following a mechanical stimulation of the trachea in anesthetized rabbits.Thirteen anesthetized, tracheotomized rabbits were studied allowing 329 tracheal stimulations : 208 at rest and 121 during exercise.During exercise, the incidence of the cough reflex (CR) decreased and the expiration reflex (ER) increased (p < 0.0001). Whereas the sensitivity of the CR and the ER are both decreased during exercise compared to the sensitivity of the CR at rest (p < 0.02), the strength of the expulsive response is unchanged.These results indicate that adjustments occurring during exercise likely down‐regulates tracheal defensive reflexes in anesthetized rabbits.
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