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Effects of upper airway anaesthesia on respiratory-related evoked potentials in humans

¹ Laboratoire de Physiopathologie Respiratoire, Service de Pneumologie, ⁴ Dept of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, ⁵ Service Central d'Explorations Fonctionnelles Respiratoires, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique, Hôpitaux de Paris, and ³ UPRES EA 2397, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris VI, Paris, France. ² Servizio di Medicina Interna 1, Spedali Civili, and Universita di Brescia, Brescia, Italy.

CORRESPONDENCE: T. Similowski, Laboratoire de Physiopathologie Respiratoire, Service de Pneumologie et de Réanimation, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtriêre, 47-83, Bd de l'Hôpital, 75651 Paris Cedex 13, France. Fax: 33 142176708. E-mail: thomas.similowski{at}psl.ap-hop-paris.fr

Keywords: Dyspnoea, L-menthol inhalation, respiratory-related evoked potentials, upper airway, upper airway anaesthesia

Received: December 8, 2004
Accepted August 8, 2005

Cortical potentials evoked by mid-inspiratory occlusion arise from numerous receptors, many of which are probably within the upper airway. Their precise nature is not known. The aim of the current study was to improve knowledge of this by studying the effects of topical upper airway anaesthesia on respiratory-related evoked potentials.

Respiratory-related evoked potentials were described through the averaging of electroencephalogram (EEG) epochs following mid-inspiratory occlusions (C₃–C_Z; C₄–C_Z). A total of 21 healthy volunteers (13 male, aged 22–52 yrs) were studied during mouth breathing, before and after topical upper airway anaesthesia (lidocaine). Moreover, 15 subjects were studied during nose breathing with and without anaesthesia. Six subjects were studied whilst inhaling L-menthol.

Typical potentials were present in all the subjects, their components featuring normal amplitudes and latencies. The route of breathing and upper airway anaesthesia did not modify the EEG responses to inspiratory occlusions, qualitatively or quantitatively, during mouth or nose breathing. L-menthol had no effect.

Upper airway receptors sensitive to topical anaesthesia are unlikely to contribute significantly to mid-inspiratory occlusion-evoked potentials. On the contrary, deeper receptors, such as joint and muscle receptors, could contribute dominantly to these potentials.

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