Question
What parts of the brain affect respiratory function?
Answer
Two major players in respiratory function are the primary motor strip, located in the posterior part of the frontal lobe, and the primary sensory strip, located in the anterior parietal lobe. I also want to highlight the subcortex which is located beneath the cortex and is sort of in a structure almost like what I would describe as a peach pit. Think of a peach. You have the outer part. The meaty part that we like to eat is the cortex. Then, the subcortex is the peach pit, the innermost part.
We have three vital structures in both respiratory function and brain injury. The amygdala, seen in Figure 3, is implicated in emotion and is often hyperactive or hypoactive with brain injury. We know that emotional lability and various states of arousal can certainly impact respiratory rate and function. We have the basal ganglia, a group of cells that work on motor control and speed. If you think about the basal ganglia most often associated with Parkinson's disease, we can see changes in the movement amplitude with those folks. Within a brain injury, if the basal ganglia is damaged, we may see respiratory deficits associated with that motor control. Then we have the thalamus (see Figure 3), the brain's relay station. It controls much information processing between the brain stem and the cortex. Moreover, it is super essential in many different aspects of function but connects with conscious control of respiratory function and our ability to control and process motor and sensory inputs from the brain to the rest of the body.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Brain Injury Effects on the Respiratory System, presented by Sarah Busser, MA, CCC-SLP, CBIS.