Ventilatory control and function following perinatal insults

Symposium — Sunday, April 23, 2024 — 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM — , Room W196A
Respiration Section — Chair: E. Fiona Bailey — Co-Chair: Ann Revill

Background Prenatal and early postnatal insults, such as exposure to toxins, inflammation and psychosocial stressors alter brain development, including neurons involved in the control of breathing. This symposium will bring together early, mid and late career scientists that apply very different perinatal insults, and use very different experimental approaches; the common thread is that all use changes in some aspect of ventilatory control as a primary outcome variable. As such, the proposed session spans a very broad range of physiologic interest, including comparative approaches. Each talk will summarize what we have learned, and will include a synopsis of significant knowledge gaps and how they might be addressed in the future. Proposed sequence and focus The session Chair, Dr. Bailey, will introduce the session by reviewing the significant advances in our understanding of respiratory rhythm generation over recent decades. She will emphasize that most of that advancement is the result of work conducted in reduced brainstem slice preparations. And that the future direction and potential utility of in vitro work however rests in part on a) a more complete characterization of respiratory system function and control in the mammalian human and non-human neonate and b) studies performed in novel species/model systems that offer unique windows into respiratory motor circuit development. Dr. Fregosi will summarize what we have learned about the influence of perinatal nicotine exposure on ventilatory control and development of brainstem respiratory neurons, with a focus on homeostatic plasticity. Dr Pilarski will discuss the usefulness of an avian model to understand how brain development is altered by perinatal insults, including the expression of both adaptive and maladaptive responses. It is noteworthy that birds develop in ovo and thus provide unparalleled access to central neuronal networks throughout the entire prenatal period from embryo to hatchling that are free from confounding interactions with the mother. Dr. Bavis will focus on perinatal O2 fluctuations as might be experienced in preterm infants. He will first discuss the separate effects of sustained hypoxia and sustained hyperoxia on the carotid body and the hypoxic ventilatory response in animal models. He will then contrast these effects with those obtained when developing rats experience alternating bouts of hypoxia and hyperoxia. Dr. Huxtable will focus on how lipopolysacharide-induced inflammation alters respiratory rhythm and plasticity in the neonate, as well as the long-term consequences of perinatal inflammation for the expression of plasticity in adults. Dr. Gauda will discuss what we have learned from newborn animals on the role of leptin on respiratory drive and adiponectin on lung protection from oxidative injury and inflammation during early development.

Speakers

Developmental nicotine exposure alters structure and function of hypoglossal motoneurons
Ralph Fregosi — Physiology, University of Arizona

Using comparative neurobiological approaches to understand how perinatal insults alter development of ventilatory control
Jason Pilarski — Biological Sciences, Idaho State University

Influence of perinatal oxygen on the developing respiratory control system
Ryan Bavis — Biology, Bates College

Acute and chronic effects of neonatal inflammation on respiratory stability and plasticity
Adrianne Huxtable — Human Physiology, University of Oregon

Exploring a new hypothesis: relative leptin and adiponectin deficiencies contribute to chronic intermittent hypoxia in premature infants
Estelle B Gauda — Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine