title: State-dependent respiratory and cardiac relationships with neuronal discharge in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.
abstract: Discharge patterns of 63 neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) were cross-correlated with inspiratory onsets of the respiratory cycle and the R wave of the cardiac cycle in seven unrestrained, drug-free cats during waking (AW), quiet sleep (QS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. BNST neurons fired slowly, with half having rates of less than 1/second; rates were higher in AW and REM states than in QS. Approximately one-quarter of cells showed a phasic discharge timing relationship with the respiratory cycle, and one-fifth with the cardiac cycle, in at least one sleep-waking state. Respiratory-cell correlations occurred more frequently during AW (18 cells) and QS (15) than REM (6), while cardiac-neuronal correlations preferentially developed during QS (13 cells) or REM sleep (11), with a smaller proportion during waking (7). Cardiac-cell discharge correlations were weaker than respiratory-cell correlations and much weaker during REM than during either AW or QS. The data suggest that sleep states modulate a respiratory-dependent neuronal discharge in this rostral site classically associated with affective functions, with the relationship being reduced during REM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of California at Los Angeles 90024-1763, USA.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Terreberry
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oguri
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Harper
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002415:Cats; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010507:Periodicity; D012119:Respiration / Q000502:physiology*; D012894:Sleep Stages; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*