Journal of neurotrauma
-
Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2016
The Impact of Mid-Cervical Contusion Injury on Diaphragm Muscle Function.
Midcervical contusion injuries disrupt descending ipsilateral excitatory bulbospinal projections to phrenic motoneurons, compromising ventilation. We hypothesized that a unilateral contusion injury at C3 versus C5 would differentially impact phrenic activity reflecting more prominent disruption of ipsilateral descending excitatory drive to more caudal segments of the phrenic motor pool with more cranial injuries. Phrenic motoneuron counts and evidence of diaphragm muscle denervation at individual neuromuscular junctions (NMJ) were evaluated at 14 days post-injury after unilateral contusion injury (100 kDynes). ⋯ Overall, diaphragm root mean square electromyography activity did not change ipsilaterally after C3 or C5 contusion, but increased contralaterally (∼ 11%) after C3 contusion only on the first day post-injury (p = 0.026). Similarly, there were no significant changes in breathing parameters during eupnea or exposure to hypoxia (10% O2) - hypercapnia (5% CO2) at any time post-injury. Unilateral midcervical contusions minimally impair ventilatory behaviors despite phrenic motoneuron loss and diaphragm muscle denervation.