All parts of the brain › Functions › Airway reflexes

What part of the brain controls coughing and sneezing?

Both reflexes are run by the brainstem’s medulla oblongata and pons, which reshape the breathing network into a cough or a sneeze. [1][2][3][4][5][6]

The 3D brain needs JavaScript. The list of parts still says what each one does for coughing and sneezing.

Not lit: the vagus nerve and trigeminal nerve (not a shape in this model). Lit: whole parts; region borders not drawn.

Slice

All 7 parts are lit together. Drag to turn, pinch or scroll to zoom, tap a part on the brain or a name in the list to focus it; .

Cough signals from the airways arrive in the solitary nucleus of the medulla; a sneeze starts in the nose and travels along the trigeminal nerve to a sneeze-evoking region by the spinal trigeminal nucleus. The cortex adds control: the precentral and postcentral gyri when you cough on purpose, and the insula, cingulate gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus when a cough is set off or held back. [1][2][3][4][5][6]

Not lit: the vagus nerve, which carries cough signals from the airway receptors to the medulla, and the trigeminal nerve, which carries the sneeze signal from the nose to the brainstem. Each is not a separate shape in this atlas (BodyParts3D 4.0), so no marker is placed at a guessed position; each nerve’s page lights the brainstem part it joins. [7][3][8] See the vagus nerve (X), the trigeminal nerve (V).

The solitary nucleus is a region on the medulla oblongata, not a separate shape. The 3D model has no shape for it, so the whole medulla oblongata is lit; the region’s exact border is not drawn.

The ventral respiratory group is a region on the medulla oblongata, not a separate shape. The 3D model has no shape for it, so the whole medulla oblongata is lit; the region’s exact border is not drawn.

The sneeze-evoking region is a region on the medulla oblongata, not a separate shape. The 3D model has no shape for it, so the whole medulla oblongata is lit; the region’s exact border is not drawn.

The pontine respiratory group is a region on the pons, not a separate shape. The 3D model has no shape for it, so the whole pons is lit; the region’s exact border is not drawn.

Airway reflexes: 7 parts lit

Medulla oblongata, pons, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, insula, cingulate gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus. Tap one to see where it is and what it does.

The parts and their roles

Holds the cough centre: the solitary nucleus takes the first cough signals, and with the caudal ventral respiratory group it is essential for the whole cough pattern; a sneeze is driven from here too, by neurons that project to that same respiratory group. [1][2][9] Where is the medulla oblongata?
Its pontine respiratory group is one of the systems thought to help shape and regulate the cough pattern, and the sneeze-evoking region found in cats reaches up into its lower lateral reticular formation. [1][4] Where is the pons?
In fMRI of 15 healthy volunteers, coughing on command activated the motor cortex of the precentral gyrus (areas 4a, 4p and 6) on both sides, in the same strip used for breathing on purpose but over a larger volume. [5] Where is the motor cortex (precentral gyrus)?
Its sensory cortex (areas 3a, 3b, 1 and 2) was part of the same activation on both sides when people coughed on command, beside the motor strip. [5] Where is the somatosensory cortex (postcentral gyrus)?
Its rear part is among the regions that set a cough evoked by an irritant (capsaicin) apart from simply feeling the irritation; its front part is active when people hold the cough back. [6] Where is the insula?
Its rear (posterior cingulate) part marks an evoked cough, and its anterior mid-cingulate part is active when the cough is held back. [6] Where is the cingulate gyrus?
Active, with the front of the insula and the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, when people suppress a cough set off by capsaicin, one of the higher brain checks on the reflex. [6] Where is the inferior frontal gyrus?

Named areas on the lit gyri

The solitary nucleus, on the : Cough receptors in the airways project to relay neurons in its caudal part, the first stop in the brain for cough signals; chemicals injected into it in animals turned the reflex up or down. [1][2]
The ventral respiratory group, on the : Breathing neurons in the front and side of the medulla. Its caudal part is essential for the whole cough pattern, and the pre-Bötzinger complex within the group may act as the cough’s pattern generator; the sneeze neurons project to the same caudal part. [2][1][9]
The sneeze-evoking region, on the : Along the inner, lower (ventromedial) part of the spinal trigeminal nucleus and the neighbouring lateral reticular formation of the lower pons and medulla: electrical stimulation there evoked sneezes in cats like those from tickling the nose, and a matching region has been described in the human brainstem. [4][9][3]
The pontine respiratory group, on the : A breathing group in the pons, named among the systems that may take part in generating and regulating the cough pattern. [1][10]

How they work together

A cough is a deep breath in, a forced breath out against the closed glottis, then a violent release of air once the glottis opens. It is started by two kinds of airway nerve endings: fast-adapting myelinated receptors and unmyelinated C-fibres. [7]
The sneeze reflex has the same two motor phases: the diaphragm and rib muscles draw in a large breath, then the chest and belly muscles squeeze the lungs while the soft palate and uvula drop and the back of the tongue rises, so the blast leaves through the nose and mouth. The fastest sneeze measured in one study left at about 4.5 m/s (10 mph). [3]
Neither reflex has wiring of its own from end to end: the solitary nucleus passes cough signals to the brainstem’s breathing network, which is reconfigured into the cough pattern, and the sneeze neurons project into that same network at the caudal ventral respiratory group. [2][9]
A cough can be started, delayed or held back at will, so it is not a purely brainstem reflex: in brain imaging an evoked cough needed cortical areas beyond those for feeling the tickle, and holding a cough back used its own set of areas. [6][7]
Honest limit: these are networks seen in imaging and animal work, not single centres. The brainstem regions were mapped in cats and mice and none is a separate shape in this atlas, so the whole medulla oblongata and pons are lit; the cortical parts come from brain scans of healthy volunteers coughing on command or on capsaicin, which show where activity rises, not what each area does alone. The sources name no cortical areas for sneezing. [2][4][9][5][6][8]

Coughing and sneezing borrow the breathing centre: the respiratory groups of the medulla and pons that set the rhythm of every breath are reconfigured into each cough, and the sneeze neurons drive the same caudal ventral respiratory group. [10][2][1][9] What part of the brain controls breathing?

Swallowing and coughing guard the same airway: for the moment of a swallow the swallowing centre holds off breathing and coughing, and the solitary nucleus that times a swallow is also the first relay for cough signals. [11][2] What part of the brain controls swallowing?

Sources

Facts describe anatomy and normal function only. A part lit here takes part in coughing and sneezing; it does not do it alone, and it does other jobs too. The 3D model is the adult male BodyParts3D brain (credits and licence); on it the brainstem includes the midbrain, pons and medulla, so lighting the brainstem lights all three.