The classic paper (often quoted in articles on Airway Pressure Release Ventilation) was written over 40 years ago. I don't think it was ever duplicated.

Basically it shows that normal spontaneous ventilation results in better ventilation/perfusion in the lungs than artificial ventilation during paralysis due to effects on how the diaphgram moves.

Froese AB, Bryan AC. Effects of anesthesia and paralysis on diaphragmatic mechanics in man. Anesthesiology. 1974 Sep;41(3):242-55

The Froese paper inferred ventilation mode dependent differences in regional ventilation of dependent diaphragm near regions from lateral X-Ray projection images of diaphragm displacements. This probably resulted in a gross overestimation of the effect, because the differences in thoracic cavity shape causes "rigid body displacements" of lobes and lung parenchyma in addition to shape change and deformation. At least in normal humans and experimental animals the effects of mode of breathing on regional ventilation are quite small (see old Xenon ventilation studies by the group of Nick Anthonisen or Kai Rehder or parenchymal marker papers by Rodarte). The most significant effect of diaphragm activity on ventilation distribution in patients was recently reported by Amato's group in the blue J.,(Yoshida 2013) in which they postulated that fighting the ventilator could cause damage of diaphragm near lung regions on account of overdistension.

Dear Rolf and Robert,

Thanks for your answers! I will check the work you mention.

I came to this question after rereading Lehrer and Woolfolk 1994 Respiratory system involvment in western relaxation and self-regulation. They wrote "Abdominal breathing has been found to improve ventilation in the lower loves of the lung (Hughes, 1979, "Does abdominal breathing affect regional gas exchange" Chest, 76, 288-93."

However, after reading Hughes, it seemed to me that their statement was a bit far-stretched. In fact, Hughes wrote "the study suggests that changes in thoracoabdominal shape influence regional blood flow" and not ventilation. Interestingly, however, they cited Roussos et al. 1977 (Voluntary factors influencing the distribution of inspired gas" Am Rev Respir Dis, 116, 457-67) who wrote "Thus, in normal subjects distribution of inspired gas may be altered by voluntary use of different muscle groups".

So, I was wondering if there were (more recent? conclusive?) studies on this issue.

Given the coupling of ventilation and  perfusion it is not surprising that changes in regional ventilation beget changes in regional blood flow. However, as I said in normal lungs the effect is pretty small.