Donald T Frazier, PhD

The overall objective of our program is to gain insight into how information emanating from respiratory afferents is integrated in the central nervous system and used to modulate the respiratory drive to breathe. The current primary focus is the cerebellum as an integrating site owing to the general role it plays in the reflex regulation of postural and other skeletal muscles. The hypothesis to be tested is that respiratory reflexes elicited by afferrents activated by mechanical, chemical and electrical stimuli will be significantly influenced by cerebellar interactions. Our recent observations indicate that the respiratory responses elicited by both mechanical and chemical pertubations are indeed, modulated by the cerebellum. Our goal is to characterize the nature of the circuitry involved including its pharmacology. Investigative procedures utilized in the lagoratory include: extracellular recording, evoked potentials, electromyography, differential nerve blockade, microlesions, microstimulation, microinjection (iontophoresis, pressure) anterograde/retrograde tracing and pulmonary function measurements.