title: Short latency excitation of upper cervical respiratory neurons by vagal stimulation in the rat.
abstract: Extracellular recordings were made from 29 respiration-phased neurons in the upper cervical spinal cord (C1-C3) in nine anesthetized rats while ipsilateral and contralateral vagi were stimulated via platinum hook electrodes. Neuronal responses to vagal stimulation were recorded using peristimulus histograms. An accumulation of spikes with an average latency of 4.0 +/- 0.8 (S.D.) ms occurred in 11 cells after ipsilateral stimulation. These results indicate that there are fibers in the vagus which oligosynaptically excite respiratory neurons in the upper cervical spinal cord.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City 73190.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dawkins
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Foreman
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Farber
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D009333:Neck; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012125:Respiratory Center / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology*; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology*