Knowledge about the regulation of breathing has pronounced clinical consequences. In the review the concepts of control and regulation of breathing are defined. Regulation based on the chemical feed back is well documented. Apart from that, attention is paid to unproven, hypothetical regulations. Among them, the regulation of the breathing pattern and that of functional residual lung capacity are of especial interest. Not less important is the cortical or volitional regulation of breathing, which is so far almost unexplored. An important problem represents abnormalities of the regulation of breathing. The disturbance can either follow a damage of the system of regulation, or it can be the result of conflict of priorities among the individual regulatory systems. Also this area is built on hypotheses which need experimental and clinical verification. Hand in hand with it goes the problem of regulation of breathing in disease. In conclusion, problems for elucidation are summarized.

        Key words: regulation breathing, respiration.