|
|
||||||||
Departments of 1 Physiology and 2 Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, New Hampshire 03756
The rostral ventral medulla (RVM) may be important in the control of cardiorespiratory interactions. We hypothesized that inhibition of the RVM would enhance inhibition of breathing associated with transient blood pressure elevations. In 25 piglets 3-16 days of age, we studied the effect of acutely increasing blood pressure, by systemic infusion of phenylephrine, on respiratory activity before and after inhibition of neural activity in the RVM by dialysis of 10 mM muscimol, a GABAA-receptor agonist. Muscimol dialysis through probes that were placed along the ventral medullary surface from ~1 mm rostral to the facial nucleus to ~0.5 mm caudal to the facial nucleus augmented the respiratory inhibition associated with acute increases in blood pressure. No similar enhancement of respiratory inhibition after phenylephrine treatment was seen in six control animals that did not receive muscimol dialysis. We conclude that the piglet RVM participates in cardiorespiratory interactions and that dysfunction of homologous regions in the human infant could lead to cardiorespiratory instability and may be involved in the pathogenesis of sudden infant death syndrome.
phrenic nerve; sudden infant death syndrome; parapyramidal nucleus; caudal raphé; retrotrapezoid nucleus; nucleus paragigantocellularis lateralis
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
A. K. Curran and J. C. Leiter Respiratory: Baroreceptor-mediated inhibition of respiration after peripheral and central administration of a 5-HT1A receptor agonist in neonatal piglets Exp Physiol, July 1, 2007; 92(4): 757 - 767. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. K. Curran, L. Xia, J. C. Leiter, and D. Bartlett Jr. Elevated body temperature enhances the laryngeal chemoreflex in decerebrate piglets J Appl Physiol, March 1, 2005; 98(3): 780 - 786. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. van der Velde, A. K. Curran, J. J. Filiano, R. A. Darnall, D. Bartlett Jr., and J. C. Leiter Prolongation of the laryngeal chemoreflex after inhibition of the rostral ventral medulla in piglets: a role in SIDS? J Appl Physiol, May 1, 2003; 94(5): 1883 - 1895. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |