• DOI:10.1152/AJPLEGACY.1929.91.1.94
• Corpus ID: 20397180

ON THE RESPIRATORY CENTRE

@article{HendersonONTR,
  title={ON THE RESPIRATORY CENTRE},
  author={Velyien E. Henderson and Edward Horne Craigie},
  journal={American Journal of Physiology},
  volume={115},
  pages={520-529}
}

• V. E. Henderson, E. Craigie
• Published 1 December 1929
• Biology
• American Journal of Physiology

Lumsden (1923) suggested that the respiratory eentre was divisible into three or four parts; only the most caudal of his centres, the gasping centre, lay below the striae acusticae. The work of numerous observers has shown that Lumsden’s work is inaccurate,---Schoen (1929), Teregulow (1929), Henderson and Sweet (1929); and Henderson and Sweet particularly, have shown that respiration, normal in type, occurs in cats even if complete transverse sections are made below the striae acusticae. Such respirations are usually slower than normal, but adequate. It is of course clear that the medullary respiratory centre is, or may be, influenced in its activity by fibres reaching it from higher levels. Since the work of Henderson and Sweet, the authors of this paper have been engaged intermittently in attempting to delimit the respiratory centre or centres and trace the afferent and efferent connections. All experiments have been made in cats and in all cases the animals have been young, incompletely developed animals and from 1.5 to 2 kgm. in weight. Operations have been carried out under urethane and ether. Before making incisions a clear view of the area of the medulla involved was obtained, either by the complete ablation of the cerebellum, using the method described by Henderson and Sweet, or more usually by removing the central portion of the occipital bone with a rongeur and the central portion of the cerebellum with a scoop. All bleeding was arrested. Sections were made with small splinters of safety-razor blades, using a gentle sawing motion. After the conclusion of the experiment the head of the animal was placed in formalin, and only after thorough fixation was the area involved removed. If the gross examination warranted it, the material was cut in serial sections, usually transverse, stained and mounted in series and examined by E. H. C. In the serial sections, transverse lesions wcrc often hard to delimit. The lesion rarely lay in the plane of the sections; if there was diffusion of blood this often occurred in another plane than that of the lesion and obscured the lesion proper. Further, such a fine incision, if not accompanied by bleeding, often produced such slight changes that only careful scrutiny could trace its course and extent. Indeed, in some cases this proved impossible.