title: Short-term potentiation of carotid chemoreflex: an NMDAR-dependent neural integrator.
abstract: Repetitive stimulation of the carotid sinus nerve (CSN) elicits a short-term potentiation (STP) of the reflex response in respiratory motor output in mammals. The input-output transformation approximates a leaky integrator with a time constant of several seconds. Here, we showed that STP induced by CSN stimulation in rats was manifested in the reflex response in the amplitude of rhythmic phrenic nerve activity as well as its duration. Moreover, pharmacological blockade of NMDA receptors (NMDAR) resulted in marked increases in the time constants of the equivalent neural integrator in both the STP induction phase (by 10- to 20-fold) and recovery phase (by 1- to 5-fold). Thus, NMDAR serves as a molecular switch that facilitates the integrative processing of CSN inputs by STP.
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Siniaia
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Eldridge
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002346:Carotid Sinus / Q000294:innervation*; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D010507:Periodicity; D010791:Phrenic Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011930:Reaction Time; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000502:physiology; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology*; D012143:Respiratory Physiological Phenomena
chemical_list: D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate