We all breathe every day with little to no thought about it. So, have you ever wondered how our breathing rhythms are generated since it is the most essential process for maintaining life? These rhythms are generated by very complicated neural circuits in a place in our brain system, particularly the pre-Bötzinger Complex (PBC). This complex takes breathing patterns to adapt to various states we go through, like sleeping or during exercise and helps us balance our blood gas levels. It’s important that we study these mechanisms so that we can innovate new medical treatments for respiratory dysfunctions that affect millions of people.
We had a notable guest speaker, Jordan Skach who talked about breathing rhythms. In his work, "Facing the Challenge of Mammalian Neural Microcircuits: taking a few breaths may help" researchers are trying to study breathing to potentially learn about other larger and more complex neural processes. The researchers learned that there are a bunch of neurons that work together at a cellular level process to create our breathing rhythm. To study this, they used microcircuits which are smaller organized groups of neurons, making it easier to pay attention to the little details of what goes on in our brain. Focusing on one of these circuits called CPG's, they identified that the job of it was to keep the rhythm steady and to adjust it accordingly to the body. The area is highly localized making it unique to breathing. If any of the neurons from this circuit were to be disabled, they found that breathing can stop completely. To understand respiratory rhythm, we need to understand pre-Böttzinger Complex (PBC) neurons that are located in the brain stem.
In a study done by researchers Yuan Et Al. called “Dynamics Analysis of firing patterns in Pre-Botzinger Complex Neurons Model, they also want to study the mechanisms for breathing patterns specifically focusing on the PBC, however they also focus on how calcium activated non-specific cation currents (ICaN) contribute to this essential process. They use computer models to study how these currents affect the firing patterns of neurons in the PBC. These neurons fire based on different types of external signals, so that they can control the body under various conditions. This is essentially important for looking at the different firing patterns between when a person is walking verses when a person is running. They acknowledge that the PBC is like a “breathing pacemaker”, but it's governed by a diverse neuronal network. Traditional models are insufficient enough to look at the complete dynamic intricacies of these circuits.
Both talks focus on the idea that PBC’s rhythmic activity is way more complex than what previous research found. They ultimately looked for solutions to under the complex circuits that underlie our automatic breathing patterns. While one focuses on breathing is a result from many interacting systems that are far more complicated than we thought, the other uses the specific role of calcium currents in the PBC, which allows us to see different electrical patterns in neurons that deal with breathing. Other research seems to suggest specific imaging techniques that are key to addressing respiratory diseases. By understanding the role of calcium currents for bursting patterns, we can create therapies for conditions like sleep apnea. Additionally, imaging techniques can aid a variety of other disease related disruptions in respiratory circuits.
References
Sanders, Robert. "Graphene ‘Camera’ Captures Real-Time Electrical Activity of Beating Heart." University of California, Berkeley News, 2 June 2021.
Yuan, Quan, Jieqiong Xu, and Huiying Chen. "Dynamics Analysis of Firing Patterns in Pre-Bötzinger Complex Neurons Model." Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, vol. 15, 2021.
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