Respiration is the most crucial action performed by human skeletal muscles. It requires coordinated activation of respiratory ‘pump’ muscles and upper airway dilator muscles all the time: when we are awake, asleep, speaking, eating or exercising. Our research aims to provide (i) new understanding of the basic mechanisms of the neural control of human breathing and the interactions that occur between the cortical, medullary, and reflex inputs to the respiratory motoneurones, (ii) insight into the changes that can occur in neural connections in pathological conditions such as obstructive sleep apnoea, and (iii) methods to improve coughing in people with high level spinal cord injury. Because neural drive is elevated in many respiratory diseases, our longer term aim is to understand the changes that occur with respiratory disorders, which may lead to new diagnostic methods and treatment approaches.
Jane Butler (PhD) graduated in 1999 from UNSW, worked at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami supported by a NHMRC post-doctoral fellowship, and has returned to Australia in 2002 to continue her research at POWMRI. She has a broad interest in the control of human motoneurones in health on disease with a focus on the control of respiration. Current studies include investigation of the behaviour of single motor units in respiratory muscles during normal breathing and in patients with respiratory disorders such as obstructive sleep apnoea, and methods to improve coughing after spinal cord injury. She also studies the changes in the motor pathway that occur during normal movement and fatigue.
