兔延髓腹外侧区对颅内压自稳作用的影响

以乌拉坦麻醉兔,给予静脉注射去甲肾上腺素,观察在血压升高的同时,动物的呼吸和在延髓腹侧蛛网膜下腔记录的颅内压变化。结果完整动物血压升高时,潮气量明显减小,而颅内压保持相对稳定。切断双侧颈动脉窦神经和减压神经的动物,注药使血压升高时,仍可见潮气量明显减小,颅内压的增值较完整动物大。电灼损毁双侧延髓腹外侧区后,静脉注射去甲肾上腺素使血压上升时,颅内压增值明显高于其他两组(与完整动物组相比p<0.01,与切断双侧颈动脉窦神经相比p<0.05)。颅内压升高的时程和形式与外周血压的变化相一致。结果表明,在脑灌流压(量)增加时,延髓膜外侧区的功能完整性对保持颅内压相对稳定具有重要作用。     

Ipsilateral but not contralateral blockade of excitatory amino acid receptors in the caudal ventrolateral medulla inhibits aortic baroreceptor reflex in rats

Summary The caudal ventrolateral medulla (CVLM) contains vasodepressor neurons which, when activated, decrease vasomotor tone. To investigate whether excitatory amino acid receptors in the CVLM of the rat are involved in mediation of the aortic baroreceptor reflex, we microinjected amino acid antagonists unilaterally into the CVLM and examined their effects on the depressor response to electrical stimulation of the aortic nerve which contains mainly baroreceptor afferent fibers in rats. Male Wistar rats were anaesthetized with urethane, paralyzed and artificially ventilated. To block reflex vagal effects, methylatropine (1 mg/kg) was given intravenously. Kynurenate (227 ng), an excitatory amino acid antagonist, injected ipsilaterally but not contralaterally into the CVLM markedly inhibited the depressor response to aortic nerve stimulation, while both injections produced a similar small increase in basal blood pressure. Muscimol (1 ng), a GABA receptor agonist, injected ipsilaterally into the CVLM partly inhibited the baroreflex response, while it produced a moderate increase in basal blood pressure. 2-Amino-5-phosphonovalerate (APV) (10 ng), a N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, and MK-801 (30 ng), a NMDA receptor channel blocker, partly inhibited the baroreflex response. MK-801 (30 ng) injected into the CVLM reduced the depressor response to the NMDA receptor agonist NMDA (0.3 ng) but not to the quisqualate receptor agonist quisqualate (0.1 ng) and the kainate receptor agonist kainate (0.1 ng), while kynurenate (227 ng) inhibited the depressor response to all three excitatory amino acid receptor agonists. These findings provide further evidence for the presence of excitatory amino acid receptors involved in mediating the aortic baroreceptor reflex in the rat CVLM. It appears that neurons other than the vasodepressor neurons in the CVLM, at least in part, play a role in transmitting the aortic baroreceptor reflex. In addition, both NMDA and non-NMDA receptors may be responsible for the mediation of the reflex. Send offprint requests to T. Kubo at the above address     

Identification of thalamic neurons with vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-like immunoreactivity in the rat

Cell bodies with vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-like immunoreactivity (VIP-LI) were found in the thalamus of the rat. They were distributed throughout the ventrolateral nucleus (VL) and in the whole extent of the thalamic reticular nucleus (R) except for its most rostral part. On the basis of soma diameters, VIP-LI cells in the VL and R were assumed to be projection neurons.     

The ventrolateral medulla as a source of synaptic drive to rhythmically firing neurons in the cardiovascular nucleus tractus solitarius of the rat

We sought to determine whether the caudal ventrolateral medulla (cVLM), at the level of area postrema, influences the rhythmically beating neurons found within the dorsomedial NTS in rat brainstem slices. Intra- or extracellular recordings of neurons firing rhythmically at around 5 Hz were characterized as either auto-active (i.e. pacemaker; AA) or synaptically driven (SD) by pharmacological interventions. The nature of inputs evoked from the ipsilateral cVLM were orthodromic and the majority were excitatory (latency 3-20 ms). Further, this excitatory influence was found to be tonically active in 25/47 cells studied since inactivating the ipsilateral cVLM by localized cooling reduced the firing rate by 0.5-3.0 Hz (23% on average). Neuronal characterization showed that the most consistent and pronounced effect occurred on SD rather than AA cells. Control experiments that cooled other areas of the slice closer to the recording site proved ineffective. Additional studies showed that most rhythmically firing cells in the NTS received an excitatory synaptic input from the solitary tract (ts; latency 3-30 ms). This input was reduced or blocked by inactivating the cVLM in neurons in which the ts latency of activation was greater than 8 ms in half of the neurons tested. Subsequent pharmacological tests revealed that these neurons were predominantly SD. Identified AA neurons received an input from the ts at a shorter latency, typically less than 8 ms, and this was unperturbed by cooling the cVLM in all cases. Further, there was no obvious difference in the baseline discharge rates between cells in the hemi-slice and those recorded in an intact slice. In a hemi-coronal slice cooling the cVLM also produced a 20% decrease in firing rate in identified SD neurons but no consistent change in AA cells. We conclude that (1) the ipsilateral cVLM contributes principally tonic excitatory drive to rhythmically active neurons in the dorsomedial NTS in vitro and this preferentially effects SD neurons; (2) other excitatory drives other than those from the ipsilateral cVLM impinge upon SD cells, the origin of which are relatively local and likely to be in the NTS; (3) in the slice the projection from the cVLM to the NTS appears to be present but the reciprocal connection is absent.     

Direct synaptic linkage of ventrolateral nucleus of thalamus terminal with cat fast pyramidal tract neuron

An electron microscopic study on the synaptic connections between neurons of ventrolateral nucleus of thalamus (VL) and pyramidal tract neurons (PTNs) in cat motor cortex was conducted by means of the anterograde degenerating procedure coupled with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) intracellular staining. Following VL lesions, a large majority of the degenerating terminals were found to terminate on dendritic spines and a few on the dendritic shaft. An asymmetric type synapse formed by a VL degenerating terminal and the dendritic shaft of a branch of apical dendrite of a labeled fast pyramidal tract neuron was demonstrated.     

Spinal cord serotonin release and raised blood pressure after braintem kainic acid injection

The recently developed technique of in vivo dialysis has permitted us to make direct measurements of serotonin release in a specific region of the spinal cord and to relate this to changes in blood pressure elicited by chemical stimulation of the brainstem. In the present experiments we have shown that chemical stimulation of bulbospinal neurons in the region of the B3 cell group in the ventromedial medulla, causes an increase in the release of serotonin in the thoracic spinal cord and that this release is associated with an increase in blood pressure.     

Morphology and synaptic connections of myelinated primary axons in the ventrolateral region of rat trigeminal nucleus oralis

Neurons in the ventrolateral (VL) subdivision of rat trigeminal nucleus oralis (Vo) have most of their dendritic arbors confined within this region. This study examines the morphology and synaptic connections of a population of myelinated primary trigeminal axons that arborize within VL and are in a position to provide input directly to VL neurons. Primary axons were visualized for light and electron microscopic analysis by injecting 30% horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in 2% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) into the sensory root of the trigeminal nerve and allowing 24-36 hours for the anterograde transport of HRP into the terminal axonal arbors. This population is characterized by its cone-shaped terminal arbors, which generate many axonal endings (2-8 micron in diameter) along unmyelinated terminal strands. These arbors arise from collaterals emanating from thinly myelinated (2-5 micron in diameter) parent branches descending in the spinal V tract, which, on the basis of their size, are considered to be small myelinated (A sigma) primary trigeminal axons. HRP-labeled P endings belonging to this population of primary axons are scalloped, filled with spherical to ovoid (40-70 nm in diameter) synaptic vesicles, and lie centrally in glomeruli where they make asymmetrical axodendritic synapses on dendritic shafts and spine heads. It is at these synapses that this population of primary trigeminal axons is probably transferring its input directly to the dendritic arbors of VL neurons. The dendritic shafts and spine heads also receive symmetrical to intermediate axodendritic synapses from endings containing flattened (70 X 29 nm) synaptic vesicles. These terminals also establish axo-axonic synapses on the P ending. Other synaptic components found less often in the glomeruli include small terminals containing oval (14-23 nm) synaptic vesicles that establish symmetrical to intermediate synapses on the P ending, boutons containing pleomorphic (35-80 nm) synaptic vesicles that form symmetrical to intermediate synapses on the P ending as well as on dendritic shafts, and small peripheral endings containing round (20-40 nm) synaptic vesicles that establish asymmetrical synapses on dendritic shafts.     

下丘脑后核、蓝斑及延髓头端腹外侧加压区间的机能联系

实验用乌拉坦麻醉,箭毒化和人工呼吸的大鼠,将L-谷氨酸钠(Glu)微量注入下丘脑后核(HP)。使血压升高、心率加快,此效应既可被蓝斑内注射阿托品衰减,还可被延髓头端腹外侧区(RVL)内注射阿托品基本阻断。HP内注射酚妥拉明或心得安也能衰减Glu兴奋蓝斑的加压效应。而静脉注射甲基阿托品阻断心迷走神经的作用,对兴奋HP引起的加压、加速心率效应无明显影响。     

Inhibition of protein kinase C differentially affects baroreflex inhibition and hypoxic excitation of medullary vasomotor neurons in rats

We examined whether rapid sympathoexcitatory responses to hypoxia in rats resulting from excitation of reticulospinal vasomotor neurons of rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVL) results from activation of protein kinase C. In peripherally chemodenervated rats, the specific phosphokinase C inhibitor 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine (H-7) administered intracisternally (i.c., 1 μmol), abolished responses of medullary vasomotor neurons and sympathetic nerves to baroreceptor activation, but did not attenuate excitation of RVL or sympathetic neurons to systemic hypoxia (100% N₂ for 20 s). Responses of the vasomotor neurons to iontophoretically applied GABA were not attenuated by H-7. In slices, arachidonic acid (100 μM, 40 s) did not change membrane currents (V_H= −70mV) of RVL neurons in the presence tetrodotoxin (10 μM). The inward membrane currents (0.49 nA) induced by cyanide (300 μM, 40 s) were not reduced by H-7 (100 μM, 20 min). The results indicate that activation of protein kinase C does not underlie mechanisms involved in rapid hypoxic excitation of reticulospinal vasomotor neurons.