Electrical stimulation of visceral afferent pathways in the pelvic nerve increases c-fos in the rat lumbosacral spinal cord.
Electrical stimulation (20-35 Hz, 2-5 V, 1.5 h) of the pelvic nerve in urethane-anesthetized rats increased the expression of c-fos protein-immunoreactivity primarily in neurons in the L6-S1 segments of the spinal cord. The neurons were localized to areas receiving afferent input from the pelvic viscera including the superficial dorsal horn, the dorsal commissure, and lateral laminae V-VII in the region of the sacral parasympathetic nucleus. These experiments indicate that (1) electrical stimulation of abdominal nerves following surgical exposure is a useful method for tracing visceral afferent pathways and (2) afferent information from the pelvic viscera is received by neurons in specific areas of the dorsal horn.
Birder
L A
LA
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Departments of Pharmacology and Behavioral Neuroscience, PA 15261.
Roppolo
J R
JR
Iadarola
M J
MJ
de Groat
W C
WC
D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology
D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos