[Compensatory reactions of the respiratory center and their manifestations at the periphery of animals with respiratory tract and lung injuries].

The microelectrode and stereotaxic techniques were used in experimental injuries to the respiratory tract and lungs to demonstrate that the respiratory center (RC) was in a state of enhanced excitation whatever the focus of injury. It was found that the efferent flow of impulses from the RC was not uniformly manifested by electrical activity of the respiratory muscles. In tracheitis, the respiration was effected by the inspiratory and expiratory muscles but remained of the diaphragmal type. Considerable reserve possibilities of the RC compensation were discovered in response to additional adequate stimulants. In unilateral pneumonia, the electrical activity of the diaphragm and that of different groups of the expiratory muscles were found to be enhanced, whereas the respiration became of the diaphragmal-abdominal type. The compensatory reactions of the RC were unchanged. In grave bilateral injuries to the lungs, the main factors having a stimulant action on the RC were additional resistance to the respiration and developing hypoxemia. At the same time there was a decrease in the electrical activity of the respiratory muscles. There is every reason to believe that the decline in the electrical activity of the respiratory muscles serves an important protective reaction of the body in grave lung injuries.