title: Respiratory and cardiovascular responses evoked by tibialis anterior muscle afferent fibers in rats.
abstract: The muscle metaboreflex is thought to be one of the neural mechanisms involved in the cardiovascular and respiratory adjustments to muscular activity. The afferent arm of the reflex is composed of thinly myelinated group III and unmyelinated group IV sensitive fibers. Such reflex arc had been extensively described in cats, dogs, rabbits and humans. However, results obtained in rats are controversial and the role of the afferent fibers from the tibialis anterior skeletal muscle has never been shown. The purpose of the present experiments was to study the responses of both respiratory and cardiovascular systems following activation of the metabosensitive fibers originating from tibialis anterior muscle in non decerebrated and non vagotomized barbituric anesthetized adult rats. Mean arterial blood pressure, mean arterial blood flow, heart rate and phrenic nerve activity (frequency and amplitude) were monitored during electrically induced fatigue or after intramuscular injection of potassium chloride or lactic acid (specific stimuli of the group III and IV afferent fibers). The experiments were performed under normal condition, then after regional circulatory occlusion, which isolated and maintained the neural drive and abolished humoral communication and after section of the peroneal nerve innervating the tibialis anterior muscle. We showed that cardiorespiratory parameters were increased significantly in response to stimuli under normal conditions and after venous outflow occlusion excluding any participation of central chemoception. No change was observed after nerve section. Our data indicate that changes occurring in rat hindlimb muscle such as the tibialis anterior are sufficient to regulate the cardiorespiratory function via metabosensitive fiber activation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Déterminants Physiologiques de l'Activité Physique (UPRES EA 3285), Université de la Méditerranée (Aix-Marseille II), 13288, Marseille cedex 09, France. patrick.decherchi@univmed.fr
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Decherchi
authors.forename: Erick
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dousset
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jammes
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D018763:Muscle Fatigue / Q000528:radiation effects; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D010543:Peroneal Nerve / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012119:Respiration / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical