Biomedical subjects

J H Coote

Publications and source records attributed to J H Coote.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed1999

Identification of an efferent projection from the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus terminating close to spinally projecting rostral ventrolateral medullary neurons.

The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus is increasingly being viewed as an important site for cardiovascular integration because of its connections to regions in the brain and spinal cord which are known to be important in cardiovascular control. Like the vasomotor neurons of the rostral ventrolateral medulla, descending axons from paraventricular neurons can be identified that form synapses on sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the thoracic spinal cord. The purpose of this study was to determine whether paraventricular axons project to the rostral ventrolateral medulla and whether they are closely apposed to reticulospinal neurons in this region. Descending paraventricular axons were labelled with biotin dextran amine, while rostral ventrolateral medullary neurons were retrogradely labelled from the spinal cord with wheatgerm agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase. This revealed, within the rostral ventrolateral medulla, paraventricular axon and terminal varicosities closely apposed to and apparently contiguous with retrogradely labelled spinally projecting neurons. Thus our study at the light microscopical level has shown the potential for the paraventricular nucleus to directly influence rostral ventrolateral reticulospinal neurons. We suggest these connections, if confirmed by electron microscopy, could be one means by which activation of paraventricular neurons elicits alterations in blood pressure.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Central control of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and their interactions in vertebrates.

This review explores the fundamental neuranatomical and functional bases for integration of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in vertebrates and traces their evolution through the vertebrate groups, from primarily water-breathing fish and larval amphibians to facultative air-breathers such as lungfish and some adult amphibians and finally obligate air-breathers among the reptiles, birds, and mammals. A comparative account of respiratory rhythm generation leads to consideration of the changing roles in cardiorespiratory integration for central and peripheral chemoreceptors and mechanoreceptors and their central projections. We review evidence of a developing role in the control of cardiorespiratory interactions for the partial relocation from the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus into the nucleus ambiguus of vagal preganglionic neurons, and in particular those innervating the heart, and for the existence of a functional topography of specific groups of sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the spinal cord. Finally, we consider the mechanisms generating temporal modulation of heart rate, vasomotor tone, and control of the airways in mammals; cardiorespiratory synchrony in fish; and integration of the cardiorespiratory system during intermittent breathing in amphibians, reptiles, and diving birds. Concluding comments suggest areas for further productive research.

Afferent Pathways↗

PubMed1999

Use of opposing reflex stimuli and heart rate variability to examine the effects of lipophilic and hydrophilic beta-blockers on human cardiac vagal control.

Evidence from animal studies suggests that beta-blockers can act within the central nervous system to increase cardiac vagal motoneuron activity. We have attempted to determine whether such an effect is evident in healthy humans, by examining the effects of lipophilic and hydrophilic agents on heart rate variability and cardiac vagal reflexes. A total of 20 healthy volunteers took part in the study. Autonomic studies were performed after 72 h of treatment with placebo, atenolol or metoprolol in a blinded cross-over design. ECG recordings were taken at rest and during mental and orthostatic stress. Heart rate variability was measured in the time and frequency domains. The effects on heart rate of two opposing cardiac vagal reflexes were examined. Trigeminal stimulation causing vagal stimulation, and isometric forearm muscle contraction ('muscle heart reflex') causing vagal inhibition, were performed alone and simultaneously. At rest, during mental stress and during trigeminal stimulation, beta-blocker therapy was associated with significantly increased high-frequency beat-to-beat heart rate variability when compared with placebo. There were no significant differences in effects on heart rate or heart rate variability between atenolol and metoprolol. Analysis of the muscle heart reflex, alone and with simultaneous trigeminal stimulation, showed that the magnitude of the R-R interval response was significantly greater after beta-blocker therapy compared with placebo, but the effects of atenolol and metoprolol were equivalent. beta-Blocker therapy increased cardiac vagal activity, as shown by measures of high-frequency heart rate variability and reflex studies. Lipophilic and hydrophilic beta-blockers appeared to be equally efficacious in increasing the cardiac vagal modulation of heart rate.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Influence of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus on cardiovascular neurones in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of the rat.

1. The question of whether neurones in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus have an excitatory influence on reticulo-spinal vasomotor neurones of the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVL) has been addressed in this study using anaesthetized rats. 2. Extracellular microelectrode recordings were made from sixty vasomotor neurones in the RVL, identified by their cardiac cycle-related probability of discharge, by the decrease in activity in response to an increase in arterial blood pressure produced by intravenous phenylephrine and by the increase in activity in response to a decrease in blood pressure produced by intravenous nitroprusside. 3. More than 70 % of these RVL vasomotor neurones were identified as spinally projecting by antidromically activating their axons via a stimulating electrode in the lateral funiculus of the T2 or T10 segment of spinal cord. 4. Activation of neurones at different sites in the PVN with a microinjection of d,l-homocysteic acid (DLH) elicited either pressor or depressor responses. 5. At PVN pressor sites fifteen RVL vasomotor neurones were shown to be activated prior to the blood pressure change. A further twenty RVL vasomotor neurones were observed to decrease activity following the blood pressure rise. At PVN depressor sites twelve RVL neurones were inhibited prior to the blood pressure change whereas another thirteen identified RVL neurones increased their discharge following the fall in blood pressure. 6. In three rats single shock electrical stimulation at a PVN pressor site, first identified with DLH, elicited a single or double action potential in thirteen RVL neurones with a latency of 27 +/- 1 ms. 7. It is concluded that PVN neurones may elicit increases in blood pressure via excitatory connections with RVL-spinal vasomotor neurones, and that other PVN neurones may elicit decreases in blood pressure via inhibitory connections with these RVL neurones.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Validation of the conductance catheter method for measurement of ventricular volumes under varying conditions relevant to cardiac surgery.

The development of the conductance catheter method has enabled continuous measurement of intraventricular volume in vivo, thus making assessment of pump performance of the heart in vivo possible using pressure-volume analysis. However, this method has not been validated under conditions where pump rate, conductance, viscosity, and temperature of the fluid in the heart chamber is changed as happens in cardiac surgery. To validate the method, pressure-volume data were measured by conductance catheter in a physical model of the human left ventricle. The volume, salinity, viscosity, and temperature of the fluid inside the model were rigorously controlled. The measured pressure-volume data were compared with the actual values to assess the accuracy and dependence of the conductance-measured volumes on salinity, viscosity, temperature, and pump rate. Conductance-measured volumes were not significantly different over a range of heart rates extending from 60 to 100 beats/min, and they were not significantly different over a salinity range of 0.2 to 2 normal saline, a viscosity range of 2.7 to 3.5 centipoise, or over a temperature range of 20 degrees C to 39 degrees C. The percentage errors between actual stroke volumes and conductance-derived volumes were of the order of 10% on average. Our data shows that for a broad range of conditions normally encountered during cardiac surgery, there is no dependence of conductance-measured volume on heart rate, viscosity, temperature, or salinity, provided the correct value of fluid resistivity is used.

Cardiac Catheterization↗

PubMed1998

Localisation of arginine vasopressin V1a receptors on sympatho-adrenal preganglionic neurones.

Vasopressin-containing nerve terminals are present in the spinal cord of several species. This study was designed to determine whether sympatho-adrenal preganglionic neurones (SPN) express vasopressin receptors (VPRs). SPN in the spinal cord were revealed by retrograde labelling of Fluorogold following its unilateral injection into the adrenal medulla of 12-20 day postnatal rats. VPRs were simultaneously visualised in the Fluorogold-labelled slices of spinal cord using a recently developed biotinylated vasopressin receptor antagonist [1-phenylacetyl,2-O-methyl-D-tyrosine,6-arginine,8-arginine,9-lysinam ide(Nepsilon-biotinamidocaproamide)]vasopressin, PhAcAL(Btn)VP. The VPR:PhAcAL(Btn)VP complexes were visualised either with Texas Red-conjugated avidin or with a Vectastain avidin:alkaline phosphatase detection kit. These dual-labelling experiments revealed VPRs to be present in the spinal grey matter and to be particularly dense in the intermediate grey matter and adjacent regions of the ventral horn. Many SPN were associated with receptor-specific labelling of PhAcAL(Btn)VP, thereby demonstrating that VPRs are expressed by these neurones. These VPRs were pharmacologically defined as the V1a subtype. It is concluded that sympatho-adrenal preganglionic neurones express VPRs and that these are of the V1a subtype. The distribution of VPRs is not, however, restricted to these SPN in the spinal cord.

Adrenal Glands↗

PubMed1998

The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus sends efferents to the spinal cord of the rat that closely appose sympathetic preganglionic neurones projecting to the stellate ganglion.

Using a combination of anterograde and retrograde neuronal tract-tracing techniques, the descending projections from the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) to the brain/spinal cord and in particular those axonal projections that appear to be contiguous with sympathetic preganglionic neurones (SPN) projecting to the stellate ganglion have been studied. Descending PVN pathways were located by the anterograde transport of biotinylated dextran amine (BDA), whilst SPN were retrogradely labelled with cholera B toxin subunit conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (CB-HRP). BDA-labelled PVN axons terminated in both hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic (including the midbrain, medulla and spinal cord) brain nuclei, with dense terminal labelling observed particularly in the arcuate hypothalamic nucleus and adjacent median eminence, in the solitary tract, vagal nuclei and in the intermediolateral region of the spinal cord (IML). Varicose descending PVN fibres in the IML were often observed to closely appose both the cell soma and dendrites of retrogradely labelled SPN (projecting to the stellate ganglion) in the spinal cord. In addition, it was shown that PVN descending axons crossing to the contralateral side of the spinal cord were closely associated with retrogradely labelled SPN projecting to the superior cervical ganglion. Such findings suggest that descending pathways from the PVN may exhibit a direct influence on cardiac sympathetic outflow and may also influence the behaviour of the contralateral population of SPN projecting to the superior cervical ganglion.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Rostroventrolateral medulla neurons preferentially project to target-specified sympathetic preganglionic neurons.

The rostroventrolateral medulla is a key site for the regulation of vasomotor tone. Sympatho-excitatory neurons project from this region to contact sympathetic preganglionic neurons located in the intermediolateral nucleus of the thoracic and lumbat spinal cord. Functional studies show that stimulation of specific sites in the ventral medulla lead to selective activation of different vascular effectors. The present study was designed to determine the anatomical basis for this selectivity in vasomotor control. Anterograde and retrograde tracing methods were utilized to determine if the descending rostral ventrolateral projection is topographically organized such that neurons in particular locations within the nucleus project preferentially and contact a specific group of sympathetic preganglionic neurons. For this purpose spinally-projecting neurons at 15 sites from three separate rostrocaudal locations within the rostroventrolateral medulla in nine rats were anterogradely labelled with biotin dextran amine. The spinal cord was examined for axon terminals having close apposition to two groups of sympathetic preganglionic neurons, those projecting to the superior cervical ganglion and those to the adrenal medulla which were retrogradely labelled with cholera B chain-conjugated horseradish peroxidase. Areas of close apposition between retrogradely-labelled dendrites, cell bodies and anterogradely-labelled axons were found. Axons descending from the more rostral part of the rostroventrolateral medulla produced the highest density of close appositions to sympathetic preganglionic neurons in both target-specific populations. Caudal rostroventrolateral medulla injection sites gave rise to a less dense distribution of axons and terminals around the spinal sympathetic nuclei. This study has demonstrated that spinally-projecting neurons in the rostroventrolateral medulla are both topographically and viscerotopically organized. It is suggested that such an arrangement provides the means for selective and differential control of autonomic effectors and in particular those involved in cardiovascular regulation.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Control of sympathetic outflows by the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus.

1. The functional role of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) has been examined by studying its connections with cardiovascular neurons in the medulla and spinal cord and its influence on activity in several sympathetic nerves. 2. Chemical stimulation of neurons within the PVN can elicit pressor responses and can excite reticulo-spinal vasomotor neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). 3. The PVN-RVLM excitation is blocked by kynurenic acid applied iontophoretically in the vicinity of RVLM-spinal neurons, suggesting this is a glutamate-dependent pathway. 4. Electrical stimulation of PVN neurons evoked action potentials in RVLM neurons after 27 ms with a small variability. 5. Anterograde and retrograde labelling of PVN and RVLM neurons revealed PVN terminals closely associated with RVLM-spinal neurons and showed that the PVN is connected to the spinal cord via three pathways. 6. Chemical activation of PVN neurons can produce a pattern of activation of cardiovascular neurons similar to that occurring in defence against plasma volume expansion. 7. It is concluded that the PVN connections with the RVLM and spinal cord are important to a role in defending against life-threatening disturbances.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Angiotensin II modulates cardiovascular autonomic control in the absence of baroreflex loading.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of angiotensin II in the absence of baroreflex activation. DESIGN: Ten healthy male volunteers were studied in a single blind, randomised, crossover study of heart rate variability during intravenous angiotensin II infusion (5-20 ng/kg/min) compared with a control pressor infusion of phenylephrine (0.7-2.8 micrograms/kg/min). Each infusion was titrated to increase mean blood pressure by 20 mm Hg; sodium nitroprusside was then infused simultaneously to restore blood pressure to baseline values. RESULTS: During concomitant angiotensin II (AII) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) infusion, the mean (SD) RR interval (864 (117) ms) was significantly shorter than during phenylephrine (PE) and sodium nitroprusside infusion (1057 (163) ms), and was significantly shorter than at baseline (999 (164) ms), despite comparable levels of blood pressure. Values of high frequency heart rate variability measured in the time and frequency domains were significantly lower during AII/SNP infusion than during PE/SNP: percentage of successive RR interval differences exceeding 50 ms, 30(16)% v 57(21)%; root mean square of successive RR interval differences, 63 (39) v 90 (40) ms; high frequency power 0.48 (0.19) v 0.66 (0.26) nu. CONCLUSIONS: When the pressor response is controlled by sodium nitroprusside, angiotensin II infusion is associated with tachycardia. Analysis of heart rate variability suggests that this reflects inhibition of cardiac vagal activity.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

A central gamma-aminobutyric acid mechanism in cardiac vagal control in man revealed by studies with intravenous midazolam.

1. Animal studies show that cardiac vagal tone can be modified by gamma-aminobutyric acid neurons acting at several sites in the central nervous system. The present study has attempted to determine whether similar control exists in humans by using midazolam, a benzodiazepine. Benzodiazepines exert their main actions on the central nervous system by interacting co-operatively at the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor. 2. Twenty patients took part in the study before undergoing cardiac catheterization. After resting for 20 min in a semi-supine position on a couch, ECG, blood pressure and respiration were recorded for 5-min periods with either controlled (fixed) or free respiration. During this time a baroreceptor sensitivity test was conducted. 3. Doses of 1 mg and 5 mg of midazolam were administered intravenously. 4. Five-minute segments of data, before and after midazolam, were subjected to power spectral and time-domain analysis. 5. Midazolam caused a decrease in the high-frequency and an increase in the low-frequency components of the power spectral density plot, and in addition reduced the mean R-R interval and R-R variability expressed as the interquartile difference, and pNN50. There were no significant changes in the sensitivity of the baroreflex or in the systolic, diastolic and average blood pressures. 6. This decrease in variability of heart period, particularly at a controlled respiratory frequency, strongly suggests that cardiac vagal tone in man can be regulated by gamma-aminobutyric acid neurons.

Blood Pressure↗

PubMed1997

Isometric contraction of arm flexor muscles as a method of evaluating cardiac vagal tone in man.

1. We have previously shown that brief voluntary isometric contractions of upper arm flexor muscles performed for one respiratory cycle elicit a significant decrease in the R-R interval. The present study was designed to determine if similar changes are produced by non-voluntary electrically evoked contractions and, if so, to establish the consistency and repeatability of the associated changes in the R-R interval. 2. The heart rate (R-R interval) response to voluntary or non-voluntary brief isometric contraction equivalent to 40% of the maximum voluntary contraction was studied in 10 healthy young male subjects during controlled ventilation at supine rest. 3. The absolute values of R-R intervals occurring in any one of 10 arbitrary phases of a respiratory cycle were measured and plotted by a computer. 4. Both voluntary and non-voluntary contractions elicited similar changes in heart rate and R-R interval, which were greater during expiration than during inspiration. 5. This confirms our previous finding that the magnitude of the R-R interval changes, with brief isometric contraction, is positively related to the degree of cardiac vagal tone. 6. Analysis of the variability between repeated tests initiated in either inspiration or expiration revealed that there was significantly less variability with the electrically induced contraction. 7. It was concluded that electrically induced contractions of 40% maximal voluntary contraction are a viable alternative to voluntary contractions and provide a more controllable means of measuring cardiac vagal withdrawal.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Changes in R-R variability before and after endurance training measured by power spectral analysis and by the effect of isometric muscle contraction.

The long-term conditioning effects of physical training on cardiorespiratory interaction in 11 young healthy males were studied. Significant increases in maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) (P < 0.05) and decreases in heart rate (P < 0.05) were achieved in all subjects following a 6-week training programme consisting of cycling for 25 min each day at a work level that increased heart rate to 85% of maximum. Heart rate variability, measured as the differences between the maximum and minimum R-R interval in a respiratory cycle, increased in nine of the subjects and decreased in two. The respiratory-cycle-related high-frequency peak in the power spectral plot of R-R variability also showed significant increases in the same nine subjects and decreases in two. The latter result was similar after normalisation of the data for changes in heart rate by calculating the common coefficient of variance [symbol: see text], where HF is the high-frequency component of the power spectral plots, using a further measure of vagal tone it was shown that, for all subjects, the R-R interval change in response to isometric contractions of the arm flexors in one respiratory cycle were significantly greater after training. These data suggest that cardiac vagal tone is increased by aerobic training for all subjects and that this is accompanied by a respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in most, but may be associated with a decrease in RSA in subjects with a very low (< 50 beats.min-1 heart rate.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia and central respiratory drive in humans.

1. The influence of central inspiratory drive on heart rate variability was investigated in young human subjects using power spectral analysis of R-R intervals. 2. The area of the high-frequency component occurring at the respiratory frequency (0.2-0.25 Hz) in the power spectral density curves was used as an index of respiratory sinus arrhythmia. 3. Central inspiratory drive was increased by breathing a CO2-enriched (5%) gas mixture and this condition was compared with a similar degree of ventilation produced voluntarily. 4. Tests were conducted on eight young subjects with and without low-dose scopolamine (scopoderm TTS) in a double-blind cross-over trial. 5. Scopolamine decreased heart rate and increased the high-frequency peak, suggesting that its main action on the cardiac vagal pathway was a peripheral one, possibly increasing the efficacy of vagal impulses on the cardiac pacemaker. 6. With scopolamine, CO2 breathing increased the area of the high-frequency component significantly more than a similar degree of ventilatory movements produced by voluntary hyperventilation. 7. It is concluded that respiratory sinus arrhythmia in humans is at least partly dependent on a central respiratory-cardiac coupling, most probably similar to that shown in animal studies.

Administration, Inhalation↗

PubMed1996

Baroreceptor-induced inhibition of sympathetic neurons by GABA acting at a spinal site.

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) synapses are an important feature of sympathetic circuits in the spinal cord. The possibility that these spinal synapses participate in the reduction of sympathetic activity resulting from arterial baroreceptor activation was tested. For this purpose baroreceptors were stimulated by a rapid rise in blood pressure induced by intravenous phenylephrine, and the effect of this on a spinally evoked excitatory response in a renal sympathetic nerve was examined before, during, and after removal of tonic excitatory drive from the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). Stimulation of descending excitatory axons in the spinal cord at the fourth cervical spinal level evoked a biphasic excitatory response in a renal sympathetic nerve, with a latency of 56 +/- 6 ms and a duration of 230 +/- 24 ms. The magnitude of this spinally evoked response was significantly reduced (P < 0.001) during baroreceptor activation, thus confirming that there is a spinal component of the baroreceptor inhibitory reflex. Intrathecal administration of bicuculline reduced baroreceptor-mediated inhibition of the spinally evoked response to 48 +/- 18% of control inhibition (P < 0.05). Subsequent removal of tonic excitatory drive by microinjection of glycine into the RVLM produced no significant further change in the baroreceptor-mediated inhibition. This suggests that a GABAA receptor-mediated effect at a spinal site is involved in the baroreceptor-induced inhibition. Reversing this procedure by first placing injections of glycine into the RVLM resulted in a reduction of baroreceptor inhibition to 60 +/- 16% (P < 0.05) of control baroreceptor inhibition. Subsequent intrathecal administration of bicuculline produced no significant further change in the baroreceptor-mediated inhibition of the spinally evoked response. This suggests that the GABAA-mediated effect of the baroreceptors at a spinal site is dependent on the integrity of neurons in the RVLM. We conclude that GABA in sympathetic circuits in the spinal cord plays a significant role in the modification of sympathetic vasomotor activity by the baroreceptor reflex.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Exercise and diving, two conflicting stimuli influencing cardiac vagal tone in man.

1. In order to increase our understanding of the central regulation of human cardiac vagal motoneurones we studied the interaction between two opposing influences on cardiac vagal tone, one related to diving and the other to exercise. 2. The heart rate response to cooling the face (0 degrees C, trigeminal cutaneous receptor stimulation, TGS) and to a brief isometric muscle contraction was studied in fourteen healthy young adults (8 males, 6 females) during controlled ventilation at supine rest. 3. Fluctuations in R-R interval were quantified by spectral analysis. In addition the absolute values of R-R intervals occurring in any one of ten arbitrary phases of a respiratory cycle were measured over thirty to sixty cycles to give a graph of the changes in R-R interval throughout a respiratory cycle. 4. TGS produced a significant decrease in heart rate (-21 +/- 2 beats min-1 in females, -19 +/- 2 beats min-1 in males; means +/- S.E.M.). In addition the autospectral plots of R-R interval variability showed that during TGS there was a significant increase both in the high frequency peak and in the low frequency peak in all subjects. These data suggested that in these experiments the bradycardia of TGS was due to an increase in cardiac vagal tone. 5. Voluntary isometric contractions at 40 and 60% of maximum (40% MVC, 60% MVC) were timed to occur early in expiration or early in inspiration. Analysis of the changes in R-R interval produced by these contractions was confined to the respiratory cycle in which they were initiated. The early onset of these changes was interpreted as showing a decrease in cardiac vagal tone. 6. The 40% MVC and 60% MVC increased heart rate significantly within one respiratory cycle with maximum effects having a mean of 9.5 +/- 3 and 11 +/- 3 beats min-1, respectively. When isometric muscle contraction was initiated during TGS the 60% MVC but not the 40% MVC was able to significantly decrease R-R interval and hence increase heart rate. 7. It is concluded that the TGS excitatory inputs and the muscle inhibitory inputs to cardiac vagal neurones do not interact by one input gating the other early in the pathway but more probably by a process of algebraic summation closer to the cardiac vagal neurone.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Chemical mediators of spinal inhibition of rat sympathetic neurones on stimulation in the nucleus tractus solitarii.

1. This study was undertaken to gain more direct evidence of the pathways and neurochemical mediators of a spinally mediated baroreceptor inhibition of sympathetic preganglionic neurones (SPNs). 2. For this purpose, single-pulse electrical stimulation within identified vasodepressor regions of the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) was used together with extracellular recordings of single antidromically identified SPNs in the T2 segment of the spinal cord of anaesthetized rats. 3. The actions of agonists and antagonists of inhibitory amino acids on the NTS-induced inhibitions were determined, when they were iontophoretically applied in the vicinity of SPNs via a multibarrel micropipette assembly. 4. Extracellular recordings were made from sixty-nine SPNs. In forty-four SPNs, NTS stimulation elicited a period of inhibition of activity in both spontaneous and 'D,L-homocysteic acid-driven' SPNs with a latency to onset of 60 +/- 6 ms and a magnitude of 80 +/- 3%. 5. In six out of eight neurones, the NTS-induced inhibition was reduced by 74 +/- 16% during the application of the glycine antagonist strychnine (0-10 nA, 5-10 min) with doses that selectively blocked the inhibitory effect of iontophoretically applied glycine. 6. In nine out of nine neurones, the NTS-induced inhibition was reduced by 38 +/- 6% during the application of the GABAA antagonist bicuculline (5-15 nA, 4-14 min) with doses that selectively blocked the inhibitory effect of iontophoretically applied GABA. 7. In two SPNs, the actions of strychnine and bicuculline were shown to be additive in blocking the NTS inhibition. 8. The selective GABAB antagonists, CGP 35348 (20-50 nA, 6-25 min) and CGP 55845A (10 nA, 11 min) did not antagonize the NTS-induced inhibition. 9. It is suggested that GABA and glycine interneurones are activated by a baroreceptor bulbospinal pathway to inhibit sympathetic preganglionic neurones in the spinal cord.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Arrangement of dendrites and morphological characteristics of sympathetic preganglionic neurones projecting to the superior cervical ganglion and adrenal medulla in adult cat.

Sympathetic preganglionic neurones (SPN) projecting to the superior cervical ganglion (SCG) and adrenal medulla (AM) in the adult cat were retrogradely labelled with cholera B horseradish peroxidase (CBHRP). Labelled neurones were found in 4 sub-nuclei: the nucleus intermediolateralis thoracolumbalis pars principalis (ILp), the nucleus intermediolateralis pars funicularis (ILf), the nucleus intercalatus spinalis (IC) and the nucleus pars paraependymatis (ICpe). The majority of SPN were found in the ILp (75%). Each group of target specified SPN had a different segmental distribution. SCG-SPN between cervical 8 (C8) and thoracic 6 (T6) and AM-SPN between thoracic 3 (T3) and lumbar 2 (L2). Fusiform and round bodied neurones were the most common shapes found, a third longitudinal type was occasionally found. SCG and AM-SPN exhibited a dense rostrocaudal dendritic projection extending along the length of the ILp. There was also a lateral projection into the ILf and a medial one projecting towards the central canal. This dendritic arrangement gave the ILp the appearance of being an 'open nucleus'. The dendrites branched at their distal ends and all along their lengths swellings could be seen. It was concluded that contrary to previous descriptions the arrangement of SPN in the adult cat is not too dissimilar to that in the adult rat.

Adrenal Medulla↗