A model is presented which incorporates several data from the literature on isolated parts of the peripheral auditory nervous system into a coherent model. The usefulness of the model lies in the fact that it describes the functional properties of eighth nerve fibres and dorsal medullary nucleus neurons in response to monaural stimuli. The components are: a middle ear filter, transduction and t...

Swallowing is under the control of premotoneurons located in the medullary solitary tract nucleus. While rats with transected mid-brain do not seek out food, they are able to ingest food present near the mouth, and acute food deprivation induces an increase in food intake. Leptin is a satiety signal that regulates feeding behavior. Since leptin receptors are found within the caudal brainstem, a...

Swallowing is under the control of premotoneurons located in the medullary solitary tract nucleus. Although rats with transected midbrain do not seek out food, they are able to ingest food present near the mouth, and acute food deprivation induces an increase in food intake. Leptin is a satiety signal that regulates feeding behavior. Because leptin receptors are found within the caudal brainste...

The nucleus of the solitary tract (NST) and the parabrachial nuclei (PbN) are the first and second relays in the rodent central taste pathway. A series of electrophysiological experiments revealed that spontaneous and taste-evoked activities of brain stem gustatory neurons are altered by descending input from multiple forebrain nuclei in the central taste pathway. The nucleus accumbens shell (N...

Orexins/hypocretins are synthesized in neurons of the perifornical, dorsomedial, lateral, and posterior hypothalamus. A loss of hypocretin neurons has been found in human narcolepsy, which is characterized by sudden loss of muscle tone, called cataplexy, and sleepiness. The normal functional role of these neurons, however, is unclear. The medioventral medullary region, including gigantocellular...

When injected into specific rat brain regions, the neurotransmitter candidate L-proline produces various cardiovascular changes through ionotropic excitatory amino acid receptors. The present study used an immunohistochemical double-labeling approach to determine whether intracisternally injected L-proline in freely moving rats, which increases blood pressure, activates hypothalamic vasopressin...

Electric fish generate different types of abrupt modulations of their electric organ discharge (EOD) rhythm to convey specific social signals. Intracellular recordings were made from neurons of the medullary pacemaker nucleus, which generates and transmits the rhythm that drives the EOD, to study the neuronal basis of two such modulations of the regular EOD rhythm, sudden accelerations, and abr...

The sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is postulated to result from a failure of homeostatic responses to life-threatening challenges (e.g. asphyxia, hypercapnia) during sleep. The ventral medulla participates in sleep-related homeostatic responses, including chemoreception, arousal, airway reflex control, thermoregulation, respiratory drive, and blood pressure regulation, in part via serotoni...

This study evaluated the development and the involvement in sudden perinatal and infant death of the medullary hypoglossal nucleus, a nucleus that, besides to coordinate swallowing, chewing and vocalization, takes part in inspiration. Through histological, morphometrical and immunohistochemical methods in 65 cases of perinatal and infant victims (29 stillbirths, 7 newborns and 29 infants), who ...