title: Sympathetic premotor neurons mediating thermoregulatory functions.
abstract: The sympathetic nervous system controls various homeostatic conditions, such as blood circulation, body temperature, and energy expenditure, through the regulation of diverse peripheral effector organs. In this system, sympathetic premotor neurons play a crucial role by mediating efferent signals from higher autonomic centers directly to sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the intermediolateral cell column of the spinal cord. The medulla oblongata is thought to subsume many sympathetic premotor neurons, and the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) has been established to contain the sympathetic premotor neurons responsible for cardiovascular control. Although premotor neurons controlling other effector organs than the cardiovascular system have been largely unknown, recent accumulating findings have suggested that medullary raphe regions including the raphe pallidus and raphe magnus nuclei are candidates for the pools of excitatory sympathetic premotor neurons involved in thermoregulation. Further recently, excitatory premotor neurons controlling the thermoregulatory effector organs, brown adipose tissue and tail, have been identified with expression of vesicular glutamate transporter (VGLUT)3, whereas those for cardiovascular control were characterized with VGLUT2 expression. The VGLUT3-expressing premotor neurons would mediate thermoregulation including fever induction, and could be also involved in the control of energy metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphological Brain Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. kazu@mbs.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaneko
mesh_terms: D026922:Amino Acid Transport Systems, Acidic / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000166:cytology*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D050599:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Protein 2; D050496:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Proteins
chemical_list: D026922:Amino Acid Transport Systems, Acidic; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; C493476:SLC17A6 protein, human; C460879:SLC17A8 protein, human; D050599:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Protein 2; D050496:Vesicular Glutamate Transport Proteins