Another Neural Circuit that Controls Breathing Found

This third excitatory network helps to regulate postinspiration.

Written byCatherine Offord

| 1 min read

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There are three stages to mammalian breathing: inspiration, passive expiration (postinspiration), and active expiration—a conditional phase used during labored breathing. Inspiration and active expiration have been linked to rhythm-generating excitatory neural circuits in the medulla: the pre-Bötzinger complex and the lateral parafacial region, respectively. A recent study has revealed a third excitatory network—the postinspiratory complex (PiCo)—that drives postinspiration, suggesting that the coordination of breathing may rely on alternating inhibitory interactions between three networks.

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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