Swallow Safety in Infant Pigs With and Without Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Lesion.

Swallow Safety in Infant Pigs With and Without Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Lesion.

Stricklen Bethany M; Bond Laura E; Gould Francois D H; German Rebecca Z; Mayerl Christopher J

Dysphagia

2020

2020-02

Aerodigestive coordination is critical for safe feeding in mammals, and failure to do so can result in aspiration. Using an infant pig model, we analyzed the impact of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) lesion on aerodigestive coordination and swallow safety at two time points prior to weaning. We used high-speed videofluoroscopy to record 23 infant pigs longitudinally at two ages (7 days, 17 days) feeding on barium milk. We measured respiration with a plethysmograph and used the Infant Mammalian Penetration-Aspiration Scale (IMPAS) to identify unsafe swallows. We tested for changes in swallow safety longitudinally in control and lesion pigs, and whether there was any interaction between the four different groups. On postnatal day 7, lesioned pigs exhibited differences in the frequency distribution of IMPAS scores relative to control pigs on day 7, and 17 day old lesion and control pigs. There were longitudinal changes in performance following RLN lesion through time, suggesting that the impact of RLN lesion decreases with time, as older lesioned pigs performed similarly to older control pigs. We found minimal differences in the impact of aerodigestive coordination on swallow safety, with shorter delays of inspiration onset reflecting higher rates of penetration in young lesioned pigs. Healthy pigs aspirated at a similar rate to those with an RLN lesion indicating that the occasional occurrence of dysphagia in infants may be a normal behavior.

Respiration; Animal model; Dysphagia; Neonate; Aerodigestive

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Journal Article

NEOMED College of Medicine

Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology

March 2020 Update