ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a method utilizing selective electrical activation of afferent fibers and demonstrates a tool for the investigation of CNS integration. It explores a method, in which electrical activation of a functional group of afferents in conjunction with a model based on neurophysiological principles and phenomena and its validation process has lead to a better understanding of the way in which an afferent input signal is centrally processed. Electrical activation of afferents has the advantage of generating a variety of precise input patterns which can be synchronized with the pertinent physiological events. The basic elements of the model are a temporal summer that processes the vagal input, an exponentially decaying central component, and a threshold, which, when crossed by the sum of the central and processed vagal component, terminates the E-phase. The lung inflation maneuvers were then repeated with electrical activation of vagal afferents substituted for mechanical activation.
