Nervous control of breathing

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Nervous control of respiration
Physiological control systems involving the
nervous system usually have three components.
These are:
•a central controlling area
•an afferent pathway (takes sensory nerve
impulses to the central control area)
•an efferent pathway (takes motor nerve impulses
away the central control area to the respiratory
muscles)

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 Central Controlling Area

1. The central controlling area for breathing, called the respiratory

centre, is in the brain stem

2. It consists of a group of neurons which regulate minute ventilation

(involuntarily) in response changes in oxygen, carbon dioxide and pH:

a. Inspiratory neurons are active during inspiration and inactive

during expiration

b. Expiratory neurons are active during expiration but not

inspiration

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Central controlling area
3. These two groups of neurones automatically maintain a
rhythmic cycling pattern of inspiration and expiration.
This automatic rhythm can be modified by the afferent
information.

4. The central controlling area receives input from higher

brain centers and peripheral receptors, and their output
fine tunes the breathing rhythm during activities such as
speaking, sleeping, or exercising

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Efferent pathways
• The efferent nerves from the respiratory centre pass
down the spinal cord to the diaphragm, intercostal
muscles and accessory muscles of inspiration in the
neck.
• The diaphragm is supplied by the phrenic nerve that is
formed in the neck from the spinal nerves, C3, 4 and 5.
• The intercostal muscles are supplied by the segmental
intercostal nerves that leave the spinal cord between TI
and TI2.
• The accessory muscles in the neck are supplied from the
cervical plexus.

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Efferent pathways
• During normal breathing, inspiration is an active
muscular process.
• Expiration is passive and relies on the natural elasticity
of the tissues to deflate the lung. The most important
muscle for inspiration is the diaphragm.
• Any disease that affects the efferent pathways from the
respiratory centre to C3, 4 and 5 and then the phrenic
nerve to the diaphragm, may cause severe difficulty in
breathing. Trauma to the cervical cord, above C3, is
normally fatal for this reason

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Afferent pathways to respiratory
centre

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Cortical influences on central
controlling area
Permits voluntary control of ventilation by interacting with
and over-riding the autonomic centers in the medullary
rhythmicity area

Examples include the control of ventilation during speech

and singing, as well as deliberate forceful inspirations,
expirations, or attempts at breath holding; pain and certain
emotional states may also influence the rate and depth of
ventilation in this fashion

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Chemoreceptors
Central chemoreceptors
– sensory neuron located in the brain stem or hypothalamus
– responds to changes oxygen, carbon dioxide and pH in
the blood or cerebrospinal fluid

Peripheral chemoreceptors
– sensory neuron located in the wall of a blood vessel (e.g.,
the aortic body and the carotid body)
– responds to oxygen, carbon dioxide and pH (as above)

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Chemoreceptors
carotid body
– A group of chemoreceptors located near the bifurcations
of the carotid arteries
– monitor changes in the oxygen and CO2 content and pH of
the blood

Aortic body
– group of peripheral chemoreceptors located in the arch of
the aorta
– monitor changes in the oxygen and CO2 content and pH of
the blood

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Copyright 2009, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
13
 Chemoreceptors and
Homeostatic control of breathing
• If oxygen level falls or carbon dioxide levels rise
too greatly from the set point, a negative
feedback mechanism increases pulmonary
ventilation. This brings in more oxygen and
expels more carbon dioxide.

• Humans are most sensitive to carbon dioxide

levels because the amount of carbon dioxide
varies most in respiration in response to different
metabolic and environmental conditions.
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 Stretch receptors in the respiratory
system and the Herring-Breuer Reflex
• The respiratory tract from bonchi to terminal
bronchioles consists of smooth muscle, and this
muscle contains stretch receptors.
• If the smooth muscle is stretched due to a larger
than normal breath (e.g. during vigorous
exercise), the stretch receptors send afferent
signals to the central nervous system to STOP
inspiration.  
• This is a protective reflex to prevent over-
expansion and tearing of the lung tissue.
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 Proprioceptors and control of
breathing
• At the start of exercise, stimulation of peripheral stretch
receptors (or proprioceptors) in skeletal muscle and
joints (tendon organs) results in afferent signals to the
brainstem and this stimulates an increase in minute
ventilation.

• This effect of breathing occurs within seconds of starting

exercise

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Drugs and the control of breathing
Some drugs (Narcotics, barbiturates and
opiates) have a direct effect on the
respiratory centre – usually to slow it down
and can cause respiratory failure.

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 End of Chapter 23
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Copyright 2009, John Wiley &

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