Cage Deformation Research Articles

Upper and lower rib cage deformation during breathing in quadriplegics.

In quadriplegia, the anteroposterior diameter of the rib cage (RC) decreases during inspiration. Our aim was to characterize this paradoxical motion further and to determine to what extent it was due to a diminished inspiratory effect of the diaphragm on the RC because of abdominal muscle paralysis. In six quadriplegics, upper and lower RC (URC, LRC) displacements were studied in various postures with and without extrinsic abdominal support. LRC was in its relaxed configuration at all lung volumes studied in three subjects before and four subjects during abdominal compression. URC distorted most and, despite improvement during abdominal compression, was never in the relaxed configuration during tidal inspiration. Thoracic distortability was further studied by noting the effect on URC and LRC of a cephalad force applied to the RC at the costal margin. This produced distortion similar to that observed during spontaneous inspiration. It was concluded that during spontaneous inspiration in quadriplegics lack of abdominal support does not entirely explain the RC distortion which occurs, and high abdominal pressure results in diminished RC distortion, an effect which we attribute to an increase in the area of diaphragmatic apposition to the RC.

Airway closure in humans does not result in overestimation of plethysmographic lung volume.

Exercise Physiol. 52: 638-641, 1982) have shown in dogs that airway closure may induce rib cage deformation and nonhomogeneous alveolar pressure swings, and they have suggested that this could lead to thoracic gas volume (TGV) overestimation by body plethysmography. However, in humans the rib cage is less easy to distort than in dogs. In four healthy volunteers we measured TGV by plethysmography before (B) and during (D) the occlusion of the middle and lower right lobes by a balloon (attached to a double-lumen catheter) positioned in the intermediate right bronchus. Subjects were trained to perform panting maneuvers preferentially with intercostals and accessory muscles or the diaphragm. Five to eleven TGV measurements were made in each subject with each panting pattern B and D occlusion. Balloon inflation resulted in no change in TGV whether low [13.3 +/- 3.4 (SD) cmH2O] or high (46.8 +/- 8.4 cmH2O) transdiaphragmatic pressures (Pdi) were used: TGV 4.0 +/- 0.4 (B) vs. 4.0 +/- 0.4 liters (D) and 4.3 +/- 0.4 (B) vs. 4.3 +/- 0.4 liters (D) for low and high Pdi, respectively. Thus, in trained subjects performing maneuvers aimed to distort the rib cage, no pressure difference was observed between the occluded and the nonoccluded lung during panting against the closed shutter. We conclude that it is unlikely that the mechanism proposed by Brown et al. might explain errors in lung volume measurements by body plethysmography in humans.

Role of intercostal muscles in the rib cage distortions produced by inspiratory loads.

We studied the patterns of rib cage (RC) deformation in six normal subjects breathing against different resistive and elastic inspiratory loads, and we examined, with concentric needle electrodes, the role played by the inspiratory intercostal muscles in the development of these patterns. Four of the subjects deformed their RC to a more elliptical shape during loaded inspirations; RC anteroposterior diameter became smaller and RC lateral diameter became larger. The RC deformation increased as the load increased, but it appeared to be independent of the nature of the load. Moreover these deformations were associated with a marked increase in the inspiratory activity of the intercostals situated in the lateral parts of the RC and a striking diminution of the activity in the parasternal area. On the other hand, two subjects invariably breathed along their RC relaxation characteristic, and they showed an increased inspiratory activity in all regions of the intercostal musculature. These findings indicate that 1) the pattern of RC deformation during loaded inspirations is closely related to the activity and coordination of the various inspiratory intercostal muscles, and 2) the parasternal intercostals are not necessarily representative of all the inspiratory intercostals. They are also strong evidence against the concept that the parasternal intercostal electrical activity normally recorded during quiet breathing is an excitatory reflex activity.

Chest wall shape during forced expiratory maneuvers.

Abdominothoracic shape during the forced vital capacity was studied in 10 normal subjects using magnetometers to monitor anteroposterior diameters at the level of the manubrium, xiphoid, and epigastrium, lateral rib cage diameter at the xiphoid level, and vertical motion of the rib cage. Thoracic cross-sectional area change at the xiphoid level was found to lag lung volume change, due to an early paradoxical increase (or lack of change), of lower anteroposterior rib cage diameter. To the extent that the resulting rib cage deformation can influence the pleural pressure gradient, the observed shape changes provide a potential mechanism for early preferential emptying of the upper lobes and later more homogeneous emptying in forced, compared to slow, vital capacity maneuvers. Comparisons of shape changes during Valsalva and abdominal expiratory ("expulsive") maneuvers suggest that lower rib cage deformation may not simply be due to the action of rib cage muscles affecting predominantly the lateral rib cage but rather the results of diaphragmatic activity and the influence of abdominal shape on the lower rib cage.

Rib cage deformation during static inspiratory efforts.

Patterns of rib cage (RC) deformation were studied in six normal subjects during moderate static inspiratory efforts such that esophageal pressure (Pes) as an index of transthoracic pressure fell to between -30 and -60 cmH2O during each maneuver. At lung volumes below 50% inspiratory capacity (IC), static inspiratory efforts deformed RC to a more elliptical shape; RC lateral diameter became smaller and RC lateral diameter became larger. However, at high lung volumes (greater than 50% IC) the opposite change in RC dimensions occurred despite similar changes in Pes, i.e., the RC became more circular. These differences in RC deformation did not appear to be a possive consequence of increased lung volume because the RC could be voluntarily deformed to a more circular shape at low lung volume when a) subjects performed static inspiratory efforts mainly with their intercostal and accessory muscles rather than their diaphragm as judged by a smaller change in transdiaphragmatic pressure for the same Pes; or b) subjects statically contracted their diaphragm with it held in a relatively flattened configuration as assessed by a large abdominal AP dimension. We suggest that deformation of the RC during static inspiratory efforts is not as predictable as has previously been suggested but depends on the pattern of contraction and configuration of the respiratory muscles.

Alternate force fields in the normal coordinate analysis of the bridged polynuclear metal atom complexes Bi6(OH)126+, Pb4(OH)44+ and Tl4(OEt)4

Abstract The ambiguities inherent in elucidating the important valence forces in bridged polynuclear metal-atom complexes via normal coordinate analysis are discussed. Previous results for the species Bi 6 (OH) 12 6+ , Pb 4 (OH) 4 4+ and Tl 4 (OC 2 H 5 ) 4 , based on the hypothesis that metal-metal interaction is important, have been reexamined, and alternative force fields, based on the dominance of other valence forces, are derived by coordinate transformations. None of the alternate force fields provides a chemically satisfying account of the cage deformation frequencies. However the choice of force field does not appear to have a material effect on the eigenvectors or, consequently, on the bond polarizability derivatives calculated from Raman intensities. Within the assumptions of the Wolkenstein bond polarizability theory, weak metal-metal interaction is required to account for the Raman intensities of the A 1 deformation modes, regardless of which restoring forces are responsible for the associated frequencies.