Neuroplasticity of Airway Reflexes
Symposium — Tuesday, April 24, 2024 — 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM — Convention Center, Room 26
Respiration Section — Chair: Donald C. Bolser — Co-Chair: Teresa Pitts
Airway reflexes include bronchospasm, airway protective behaviors (i.e. cough and swallow), and autonomic mechanisms that individually and collectively regulate responses of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems to the environment. Components of these reflexes include airway afferent pathways, brainstem sensorimotor networks, and spinal motor systems. The regulation of these reflexes is frequently quite different than that of breathing. As such, the robust emerging knowledge surrounding neuroplasticity of breathing is not routinely translatable to airway reflexes. The purpose of this symposium is to highlight current investigations into neuroplasticity of airway reflexes. In particular, this symposium will focus on pulmonary vagal sensory systems and the previously unrecognized role of ascending spinal cord pathways in mediating airway reflex function. Drs Reznikov and Taylor-Clark will discuss neuroplasticity of pulmonary vagal afferent pathways including subcellular, membrane receptor, and electrophysiological mechanisms during inflammatory and noninflammatory interventions that induce plasticity. Drs Pitts and Lee will present evidence that plasticity induced by spinal injury and loss of ascending spinal afferent pathways are important in controlling the excitability and expression of airway reflexes and protective behaviors. At the end of this of this symposium, the audience will have an expanded appreciation for novel neuroplastic mechanisms that influence the airway sensorimotor control system.
Speakers
- Plasticity of nociceptive signaling fom the airways.
Thomas Taylor-Clark — Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida
- Neural mechanisms of airway hyperreactivity.
Leah R. Reznikov — Physiological Sciences, University of Florida
- Effect of cervical spinal contusion on pulmonary C-fiber induced laryngeal closure.
Kun-Ze Lee — Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University
- The importance of spinal pathways in the regulation of swallow.
Teresa Pitts — Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, Unviersity of Louisville
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