Hypertonic Saline Stimulates Vagal Afferents that Respond to Lung Deflation.

We examined responses of these two groups of pulmonary sensory units to direct injection of hypertonic saline (8.1% sodium chloride; 9 fold in tonicity) into the receptive fields. Hypertonic saline decreased the activity in most SAR units from 40.3 ± 5.4 to 34.8 ± 4.7 imp/s (p<0.05, n=12). In contrast, it increased the activity in DAR-SAR units quickly and significantly from 15.9 ± 2.2 to 43.4 ± 10.0 imp/s (p<0.01, n=10). Many units initially had increased activity mainly in the deflation phase. DAR-SAR activities largely returned to the control level 30 seconds after injection. Since hypertonic saline stimulated DAR-SAR units but not SAR units, we conclude that hypertonic saline activates DARs. PMID: 31596107 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol Source Type: research