• 4 Posts
  • 6 Comments
Joined 10 months ago
cake
Cake day: February 25th, 2025

help-circle

  • The carina is the most important structure for the cough reflex.

    Reasoning:

    The cough reflex is primarily triggered by irritation of the carina, which is the point where the trachea bifurcates into the main bronchi. This region has a high density of mechanoreceptors that are extremely sensitive to stimuli such as dust, smoke, or secretions. When these receptors are activated, they send signals via the vagus nerve to the cough center in the medulla, initiating the reflex.

    While the larynx, oropharynx, and bronchi also contain sensory receptors that can trigger a cough, the carina is the most sensitive and crucial structure for this reflex.



  • I was involved in some research making implants using in part, patients own hair as a support matrix, and I made the ‘mistake’ or misconception that I think may also be here. That being the concept of it being the ‘patients own tissues’, and therefore better. However for these more inert tissue types there is no advantage, and you have the disadvantage of not selecting an inert material that might be have more optimal properties, and doesn’t require harvesting. So in this example, an artifical bone material, if implanted in the same fashion, would respond in the same way. The notion of it coming from a patients own tooth enamel, might give a ‘feel good factor’, but in histological terms, does not have the biological advantage you might think it has.