Previous investigations have demonstrated that the neuronal activity in the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) is respectively modulated by afferent inputs from the gastric vagal nerves innervating the upper gastrointestinal tract, as well as the cerebellar interpositus nucleus (IN). The aim of this study was to examine whether the gastric vagal and cerebellar IN inputs converge onto single LHA ne...

The enteric nervous system may have an important role in modulating gastrointestinal barrier response to disease through activation of enteric glia cells. In vitro studies have shown that enteric glia activation improves intestinal epithelial barrier function by altering the expression of tight junction proteins. We hypothesized that severe injury would increase expression of glial fibrillary a...

Myocardial infarction causes sympathetic activation and parasympathetic dysfunction, which increase risk of sudden death due to ventricular arrhythmias. Mechanisms underlying parasympathetic dysfunction are unclear. The aim of this study was to delineate consequences of myocardial infarction on parasympathetic myocardial neurotransmitter levels and the function of parasympathetic cardiac gangli...

BACKGROUND Abdominal bilateral vagal stimulation reduces food intake in animals. However, the classical square wave, mA range current generator is poorly effective to evoke action potentials on A∂ and C neurons that represent the majority of vagal neurons at the abdominal level. OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS METHODS: The current thresholds for pulsons (S2 & S3) and millisecond pulses (S1) required to ...

Parallel increments of gastric acid and pepsinogen secretion generally occur after the application of cholinergic stimuli. However, it still remains to be established whether the changes in acid output associated with cholinergic stimulation play a role in regulation of the concomitant peptic secretory activity. In the present study, an anesthetized rat model was used for the evaluation of peps...

Merrill, David C., Jeffrey L. Segar, Oliva J. McWeeny, and Jean E. Robillard. Sympathetic responses to cardiopulmonary vagal afferent stimulation during development. Am. J. Physiol. 277 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 46): H1311–H1316, 1999.—Previous work in our laboratory has demonstrated impairment of cardiopulmonary reflex control of renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) during the newborn period. T...