In ten vagus nerves the effect of local cooling on the compound action potential was studied in the temperature range of 34 to 0 °C in spontaneously breathing, anaesthetized rabbits. The mean temperature at which the myelinated (A) fibres were completely blocked, was 10.2±2.4 °C (mean ± S.D.). In nine nerves, local vagus cooling to 0 °C failed to block all non-myelinated (C) fibres. In one nerve, total blocking occurred at 2.0 °C. We conclude that in the rabbit, the earlier found increase in tonic activity of the diaphragm following lung inflation or deflation during bilateral local vagus cooling to a temperature between 8 and 0 °C is due to afferent impulses in vagal C fibres.

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doi.org/10.1007/BF00374839, hdl.handle.net/1765/71459
Pfluegers Archiv: European journal of physiology
Department of Pulmonology

Patberg, W., Nijmeijer, A., Schut, J., Versprille, A., Zock, J. P., & Zijlstra, W. (1992). Effects of local nerve cooling on conduction in vagal fibres shed light upon respiratory reflexes in the rabbit. Pfluegers Archiv: European journal of physiology, 421(2-3), 280–282. doi:10.1007/BF00374839