Work

Species-specific effects of positive end-expiratory pressure on diaphragm and chest wall geometry in mice, rats, and humans

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Positive end-expiratory pressure, a parameter used to control end-expiratory lung volume in mechanical ventilation, has a smaller effect on diaphragm surface area in mice compared with rats. Compared with healthy volunteers, rats have a larger relative decrease in diaphragm surface area due to more caudal displacement, whereas mice have a similar decrease in diaphragm surface area, but have more widening of the thorax. Interspecies differences have to be taken into account in future (animal) research on the effects of mechanical ventilation on the diaphragm or interaction between lungs, chest wall, and diaphragm.

Source: American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology

DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00258.2025