Response of respiratory muscles to intravenous nicotine challenge in anaesthetized cats

Abstract

The effects of an intravenous nicotine challenge on the ventilation and activity of rib cage muscles were studied in 33 pentobarbitone-chloralose anaesthetized cats. Bolus injection of nicotine (200 μg) into the right femoral vein evoked in 19 of the intact animals prompt, short-lived apnoea, or prolongation of the first expiration after the drug, the occurrence of which was significantly reduced by midcervical vagotomy ( P<0.001). In breaths that followed the apnoea, peak activity of the parasternal intercostal muscles increased from a baseline of 3.1±0.8 to 9.2±1.8 arbitrary units ( P<0.001). Nicotine produced a similar increase in peak phrenic ENG (7.0±0.5 to 14.5±1.2 arbitrary units; P<0.001). Peak triangularis sterni muscle EMG was reduced from 8.9±1.2 to 6±1.7 arbitrary units ( P<0.05) and the onset of response was delayed to 30 s after the challenge. The changes of respiratory effectors induced by nicotine were independent of vagal integrity. The results show that post-nicotine apnoea is to large extent vagally dependent though the response of the respiratory muscles is mediated by non-vagal influences.