Modulation of bulbospinal rostral ventral lateral medulla neurons by hypoxia/hypercapnia but not medullary respiratory activity.

ABSTRACT: Although sympathetic vasomotor discharge has respiratory modulation, the site(s) responsible for this cardiorespiratory interaction is unknown. One likely source for this coupling is the rostral ventral lateral medulla (RVLM), where presympathetic neurons originate in close apposition to respiratory neurons. The current study tested the hypothesis that RVLM bulbospinal neurons are modulated by medullary respiratory network activity using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiological recordings of RVLM neurons while simultaneously recording fictive respiratory bursting activity from the hypoglossal rootlet. Additionally, we examined whether challenges to cardiorespiratory function, mainly hypoxia/hypercapnia, alter the activity of bulbospinal neurons and, secondarily, whether changes in synap

SUBMITTER: Boychuk CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3499647 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature