Impaired cortical processing of inspiratory loads in children with chronic respiratory defects

Abstract

Background: Inspiratory occlusion evoked cortical potentials (the respiratory related-evoked potentials, RREPs) bear witness of the processing of changes in respiratory mechanics by the brain. Their impairment in children having suffered near-fatal asthma supports the hypothesis that relates asthma severity with the ability of the patients to perceive respiratory changes. It is not known whether or not chronic respiratory defects are associated with an alteration in brain processing of inspiratory loads. The aim of the present study was to compare the presence, the latencies and the amplitudes of the P1, N1, P2, and N2 components of the RREPs in children with chronic lung or neuromuscular disease.

Habituation in neural processing and subjective perception of respiratory sensations

“…The present study supports this interpretation with improved methodology by demonstrating habituation effects in the neural processing and subjective perception of respiratory sensations when these sensations are repeatedly induced over a longer time period in a well-controlled experimental setting. Our results are, therefore, converging with the few earlier studies using respiratory-related evoked potentials, which similarly emphasized the potential role of reduced neural processing of respiratory sensations in different groups of patients with pediatric and adult asthma (Davenport et al, 2000; Fauroux et al, 2007; Webster & Colrain, 2002). …”

“…We used the respiratory-related evoked potential (RREP) recorded from the EEG as a measure of cerebral cortical activity, which was elicited by short inspiratory occlusions (Chan & Davenport, 2010; Davenport et al, 2000; Davenport, Friedman, Thompson, & Franzen, 1986; Fauroux et al, 2007; Webster & Colrain, 2002). The early RREP components Nf, P1, and N1 (< 130 ms poststimulus) reflect the initial arrival and first-order sensory processing of afferent respiratory signals in sensorimotor regions.…”

The sensory profile of children with asthma

“…Earlier reports showing previously present neural regulation of inflammation in asthma highlighted that the brain transduces stress‐related and emotion‐related stimuli from the environment. It then activates inflammatory mechanisms in the lung to further exacerbate any underlying disease . In their study, Rosenkranz et al.…”

Mandibular advancement reveals long-term suppression of breathing discomfort in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

“…Habituation could proceed, at least in part, from downregulation of the insular cortex (Stoeckel et al, 2015;von Leupoldt et al, 2009). It could also proceed from altered somatosensory processing of respiratory stimuli (Davenport et al, 2000;Fauroux et al, 2007), a phenomenon that can be present in OSAS patients (Donzel-Raynaud et al, 2009;Grippo et al, 2011). Habituation could therefore explain why OSAS patients do not complain from dyspnea.…”