Grant: Project Grant

Sleep is a critical period in which breathing is most fragile due to changes in neural network activity that controls breathing. If these respiratory disorders are left untreated, serious cardiometabolic complications arise. We are interested in exploring how manipulation of brainstem structures that control respiratory muscle activity may potentiate ventilation in order to improve breathing in conditions of sleep related respiratory disturbances. With state of the art technology we will demonstrate that potentiation of the neural network that control forced expiration improves breathing stability and increases ventilation and gas exchange.