Pacemakers for Breathing
Reported November 04, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Breathing may seem like a mindless bodily function, but new research shows the mind is actually more involved in breathing than previously thought.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered two pacemakers in the brain work together in harmony to ensure that breathing occurs in a regular rhythm, even during respiratory stress.
The two-pacemaker system provides robustness and redundancy that protects us against a number of challenges from childhood to adulthood, Chi-Sang Poon, Ph.D., principal research scientist at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, was quoted as saying.
The two specific areas of the brain that act as pacemakers for breathing are the pre-Botzinger complex (preBotC) and the parafacial respiratory group (pFRG). It has long been debated how these two regions work together and which is more important. The new MIT model dubbed the handshake model suggests both regions work together to regulate breathing during infancy with the preBotC taking control during adulthood. When the adult body is under respiratory stress, such as during a shortage in oxygen, the pFRG kicks in to help the preBotC regulate breathing rhythm.
Abnormalities of the two pacemakers may be related to some cases of crib death in babies and some forms of central sleep apnea, which can affect premature infants.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published online Nov. 3, 2008
