Effects of volatile anesthetics on the activity of laryngeal 'drive' receptors in anesthetized dogs.

Effects of halothane, isoflurane and sevoflurane on laryngeal drive receptor activity were studied in the afferent activity of the superior laryngeal nerve in anesthetized spontaneously breathing dogs. Of 40 single units recorded, most of them (65%) responded to the volatile anesthetics applied to the isolated larynx at a concentration of 5%. The exposure to the anesthetics resulted in either an inspiratory increase (15%), both inspiratory and expiratory decrease (54%), or both inspiratory increase and expiratory decrease (31%) responses. The average discharge frequency of the receptors tended to be decreased on inhalation of the anesthetics, where significant decreases were observed in both respiratory phases for halothane and at expiration for isoflurane, but in neither respiratory phase for sevoflurane. These results support an advantage of sevoflurane over halothane and isoflurane for induction of anesthesia to minimize the influence of the activity of laryngeal drive receptors on the breathing pattern and airway stability.