Prelude Special Issue: Breathing and Evolution

Breathing movements are produced by a spatially distributed pontomedullary respiratory network generating rhythmic patterns of alternating inspiratory and expiratory activities that drive and coordinate the activity of spinal and cranial motoneurons. The basic neural mechanisms responsible for respiratory rhythm generation are still not fully elucidated and may display changes during both ontogenesis and phylogenesis. The aim of this special issue is to assemble the more recent views on mechanisms involved in the generation and modulation of respiratory activity, emphasizing the fact that comparative studies in different animal species and a deeper knowledge of circuit function and their evolution are important targets in understanding the respiratory network.