MJ Brennick, RA Parisi and SJ England
Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, USA.

The genioglossus is an upper airway dilator muscle, the length of which is directly related to patency in the oropharyngeal region. We hypothesized that genioglossal length (Lgg) is dynamically influenced by the afterload exerted by negative upper airway pressure during inspiration and by the intrinsic length-tension characteristics of the muscle (preload). Seven awake goats were chronically instrumented with electrodes for EMGgg and sonomicrometry for Lgg. We examined the Lgg- EMGgg relationship during hypercapnia and inspiratory resistive loading (18 cm H2O/L/s). The goats breathed through the upper airway (TC) or airflow was diverted through a tracheostomy (TO). We found that: (1) passive inspiratory lengthening was observed with negative upper airway pressure (UAP) but not when UAP = 0 (TO breathing), (2) Lgg shortening for a given EMGgg was significantly decreased with negative inspiratory UAP, and (3) phasic Lgg shortening per unit EMGgg was greatest when Lgg was near optimal length (Lo). We conclude that genioglossal length is substantially influenced by afterload exerted by negative UAP and that genioglossal active shortening may be limited if the muscle operates at a length significantly greater or less than the optimal length.

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