本研究目的在以單神經細胞記錄法 (single unit recording) 探討貓延腦吻端背側 (rostral dorsal medulla) 呼吸神經細胞的特性，並發展適合用於單神經細胞記錄實驗的自動分析軟體。
　　成貓在 halothane 麻醉下去大腦，進行股動靜脈插管。以肌肉痲痹劑痲痹後接上人工呼吸器，切斷兩側迷走神經，分離及記錄膈神經，並在延腦吻端背側進行單神經細胞記錄，動物維持在高氧二氧化碳濃度正常 (hyperoxic normocapnia) 或高氧二氧化碳濃度增加 (hyperoxic hypercapnia) 的情況下，觀察單神經細胞放電型式的變化。
　　在觀察到的 127 個神經細胞中，有 114 個屬於呼吸神經細胞，其中大多數為連續放電神經細胞 (T) ，佔呼吸神經細胞總數的 63.2%，吸氣神經細胞 (I) 佔 12.3%，呼氣神經細胞 (E) 佔 3.5%，吸氣-呼氣神經細胞 (IE) 佔 12.3%，呼氣-吸氣神經細胞 (EI) 佔 5.3%，Pump 細胞 (P) 佔 3.5%。此外還有 13 個非呼吸相關神經細胞 (non-respiratory related)。在二氧化碳濃度增加時多數呼吸神經細胞會降低活性。
　　所發展的軟體能夠自動判別單神經細胞及膈神經活動，大幅增進分析資料的效率。
　　實驗所得結果顯示延腦吻端背側可能不是管制呼吸作用的主要區域，可能是與中樞神經系統其他區域相配合而對呼吸作用扮演調節的角色。

The purpose of the present study was to characterize the respiratory-related neurons in the rostral dorsal medulla (rDM) of the cat and develop a suitable program to analyze the results automatically.
The adult cat was decerebrated under halothane anesthesia, and arterial and venous catheterization was performed. The animal was then paralyzed, vagotomized, and ventilated artificially. Activity of the phrenic nerve was monitored. Single neuron activity was obtained under normocapnia and hypercapnia in hyperoxia.
A total of 127 units were recorded, of which 114 units showed respiratory-related activities. They were classified into 6 types based on the relation of their firing patterns to the phase of phrenic discharge. These neurons are: tonic (T, 72 neurons), inspiratory (I, 14 neurons), expiratory (E, 4 neurons), inspiratory-expiratory (IE, 14 neurons), expiratory- inspiratory (EI, 6 neurons) and pump (P, 4 neurons). In response to hypercapnia, Most of them showed a tendency to decrease their discharge rate.
The developed program was confirmed to be precise and effecient and could analyse the data automatically.
The results suggest that the rDM may modulate respiration in coupling with other area in the medulla oblongata instead of playing a major role in respiratory control mechanism.

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