The effect of section of the vagi on the respiration of the cat / by J. Trevan and E. Boock.

  • Trevan, J. W. (John William)
Date:
[1922?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The effect of section of the vagi on the respiration of the cat / by J. Trevan and E. Boock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    3/12
    [.Reprinted from the Journal of Physiology, Vol. LVI. No. 5, July 21, 1922.] THE EFFECT OF SECTION OF THE VAGI ON THE RESPIRATION OF THE CAT. By J. TREVAN and E. BOOCK. (From the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories.) Rosenthal(i) was the first to point out that the effect of section of the vagi was modified by the transection of the brain at different levels. He showed that a section through the brain stem at the level of the posterior border of the posterior colliculi, followed by division of the vagi, resulted in such profound modifications of the respiratory response, that the animal dies of asphyxia in a short while, although before cutting the nerves the respiration is not very conspicuously different from the normal. These experiments were repeated and extended in 1916 (Trevan(2)). The respiratory centre is considerably modified in its response to other changes when the posterior colliculi are removed. It is, for example, less sensitive to the effect of change in the reaction of the plasma (Trevan(2)), and it is no longer stimulated by the injection of acetyl acetone and similar substances (Hurtley and Trevan(3)). The usual effect of section of the vagi in an anaesthetised animal is a much less profound change in the respiratory movements, whilst Schafer(4), on cats and rabbits, has shown that if an animal is allowed to recover from the anaesthetic, the effect on the normal rate and depth of the respiration on section of the vagi is very slight, provided laryngeal palsy is prevented. Schafer gives also a large number of experiments to show that anaesthetised animals do not constantly or often give the classical results. The following experiments were made in an attempt to correlate in some degree these different actions. Decerebrate cats. Cats, anaesthetised with ether and tracheotomised, were decerebrated with Sherrington’s guillotine and the remainder of the cerebrum was removed with a scalpel. The carcase was then left