The subconscious and conscious control of breathing
Breathing is a vital behavior, yet we possess the powerful capacity to stop it. The world record breath-hold is about 22 minutes! In this seminar, I will describe our unpublished studies to understand the subconscious brainstem mechanisms that pace breathing, and how they can be volitionally overridden.
Each breath is composed of two alternating phases – inspiration when air is drawn into the lungs and expiration when the air is expelled – and repetition of the cycle establishes the pace of breathing. The rhythm is created by a small brainstem region containing a heterogenous collection of neurons, and in this seminar, I will describe our studies that show a key role for a specific type of inhibitory interneuron in forming the subconscious breathing rhythm in mice by enabling the transition from expiration to inspiration.
Now, take a deep breath and hold it. How is it that you learned to stop your most vital behavior? We have established a robust experimental system to teach mice to breath-hold, akin to holding our breath for 45 seconds. I will describe our ongoing efforts to determine the arc of the breath hold circuit – from the learning signal to stop command.