Phase Resetting of Respiratory Rhythm — Experiments in Animals and. Models

Abstract

Resetting of respiratory rhythm was studied in cats and in two models (Van der Pol and Fitzhugh-Bonhoeffer) of a limit cycle oscillator. All three behave similarly when perturbed by brief stimuli, when respiratory drive is changed or when stochastic processes are added. The findings support the idea that a limit cycle oscillator underlies mammalian respiration and show that a number of features of in vivo respiration can be mimicked by limit cycle models.