Reply to Salimi et al .: Stimulating Neural Pathways to Reduce Mechanical Ventilation-associated Neurocognitive Dysfunction

Bassi et al respond to comments Salimi and colleagues on their article proposing that the stimulation of neuropathways in conjunction with mechanical ventilation (MV) could result in better cognitive function after MV. Salimi and colleagues demonstrated that mice undergoing volume-control MV for 2 hours along with nasal puff synchronized to the breathing cycle had better working memory compared with mice undergoing volume-control MV alone. The authors reported that nasal puffs coupled with the respiratory cycle improved neural activity in many areas of the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex and ventral hippocampus.