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Mechanical coupling of upper and lower canine rib cages and its functional significance.

We studied rib cage distortability and reexamined the mechanical action of the diaphragm and the rib cage muscles in six supine anesthetized dogs by measuring changes in upper rib cage cross-sectional area (Aurc) and changes in lower rib cage cross-sectional area (Alrc) and the respective pressures acting on them. During quiet breathing in the intact animal the rib cage behaved as a unit (Aurc: 14.6 +/- 7.9 vs. Alrc: 15.1 +/- 9.6%), whereas considerable distortions of the rib cage occurred during breathing after bilateral phrenicotomy (Aurc: 21.0 +/- 5.1 vs. Alrc: 7.0 +/- 4.8%). These distortions were even more pronounced during phrenic nerve stimulation and separate stimulation of the costal and crural parts of the diaphragm (e.g., phrenic nerve stimulation; Aurc: -7.1 +/- 5.1 vs. Alrc: 6.9 +/- 3.5%). During the latter maneuvers the upper rib cage deflated along the relationship between upper rib cage dimensions and pleural pressure obtained during passive deflation, whereas the lower rib cage inflated close to the relationship between lower rib cage dimensions and abdominal pressure obtained during passive inflation. The latter relationship is expected to differ between costal and crural stimulation, since costal action has both an appositional and insertional component and crural action only has an appositional component. The difference between costal and crural stimulation, however, was relatively small, and the slopes were only slightly steeper for the costal than for the crural stimulation (2.9 +/- 1.2 vs. 2.2 +/- 1.0%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)