Vestibular afferents to the dorsal vagal complex: substrate for vestibular-autonomic interactions in the rat. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Vestibular afferents to the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) were identified for the first time in the male Sprague-Dawley rat. Cells of vestibular origin were labeled by deposits of cholera toxin B (CT-B) centered on the general viscerosensory division of NTS and dorsal motor nucleus (DMX). Vestibular-visceral afferents derive from neurons concentrated at caudal levels of medial and inferior vestibular nuclei as observed in other species. Vestibular afferent processes were labeled in the NTS and DMX by anterograde transport of the tracer, biotinylated dextran-amine from injection deposits confined to the inferior and/or medial vestibular nuclei. Vestibular axons terminate in the NTS, predominantly at intermediate levels of the dorsal vagal complex. Projections overlapped sites in NTS that receive terminal input from first-order alimentary and cardiorespiratory afferents. The somato-visceral reflex circuit corroborates recent evidence in the rat of increases in functional activity in the vestibular nuclear complex and NTS in response to changes in gravito-inertial force [Kaufman, G.D., Anderson, J.H. and Beitz, A.J., J. Neurosci., 12 (1992) 4489-4500]. Vestibular input to the NTS and DMX may assist in compensating for the effects imposed by movements and gravity on breathing, alimentary reflex function and the systemic circulation.

publication date

  • December 16, 1996

Research

keywords

  • Autonomic Nervous System
  • Brain Mapping
  • Solitary Nucleus
  • Vagus Nerve
  • Vestibule, Labyrinth

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0030472778

PubMed ID

  • 9017258

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 743

issue

  • 1-2