AIMS To summarize the changes that occur in the properties of bladder afferent neurons following spinal cord injury. METHODS Literature review of anatomical, immunohistochemical, and pharmacologic studies of normal and dysfunctional bladder afferent pathways. RESULTS Studies in animals indicate that the micturition reflex is mediated by a spinobulbospinal pathway passing through coordinatio...

The mechanisms underlying enhanced plasticity of synaptic connections and susceptibilities to manipulations of afferent activity in developing sensory systems are not well understood. One example is the rapid and dramatic neuron death that occurs after removal of afferent input to the cochlear nucleus (CN) of young mammals and birds. The molecular basis of this critical period of neuronal vulne...

This study was performed to determine the influence of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) on renal arteriolar tone under conditions of normal, interrupted, and increased volume delivery to the macula densa segment and on the microvascular responses to angiotensin II (ANG II). Experiments were performed in vitro on afferent (21.2 ± 0.2 μm) and efferent (18.5 ± 0.2 μm) arterioles of kidneys ha...

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate reduced-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry was investigated in the axolotl (Ambystoma tigrinum) lateral line. Hair cells of neuromast organs of the head skin and neurons of the postotic ganglia showed a significant NADPH-d reaction. Multiunit recording of neuromast afferent activity was also performed. Nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N omega-nitro-L-...

Acupuncture has been used for analgesia, for treating visceral function disorders and for improving motor functions. It is well established that stimulation of the skin and muscles, either electrically or with noxious or non-noxious stimuli, induces a variety of somato-motor and autonomic responses. This strongly suggests that acupuncture acts by exciting cutaneous and/or muscular afferent nerv...

The ability of fishes to detect water flow with the neuromasts of their lateral line system depends on the physiology of afferent neurons as well as the hydrodynamic environment. Using larval zebrafish (Danio rerio), we measured the basic response properties of primary afferent neurons to mechanical deflections of individual superficial neuromasts. We used two types of stimulation protocols. Fi...

The capacity of small arteries to respond to increased intravascular pressure may be altered in hypertension. In the kidney, hypertension is associated with a compensatory shift in the autoregulatory response to pressure. To directly determine the effects of established hypertension on the renal microvascular response to changes of perfusion pressure, we evaluated pressure-induced vasoconstrict...

We evaluated the ability of hyperosmolar stimuli to activate afferent nerves in the guinea pig trachea and main bronchi and investigated the neural pathways involved. By using electrophysiological techniques, studies in vitro examined the effect of hyperosmolar solutions of sodium chloride (hypertonic saline) on guinea pig airway afferent nerve endings arising from either vagal nodose or jugula...

The present study was performed to determine the role of afferent arterioles in the impaired autoregulatory response shown to occur in the contralateral kidney of Goldblatt hypertensive rats. The responsiveness of juxtamedullary afferent arterioles to alterations in perfusion pressure was studied in the nonclipped kidney of two-kidney, one clip hypertensive and sham-operated rats. Systolic pres...

1.4.1 Experiment 1: Short-latency sensory afferent inhibition: The effect of recording site and conditioning stimulus intensity 14 1.4.2 Experiment 2: Short-latency sensory afferent inhibition after motor cortex 1Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation 16 1.5 Discussion 17 1.5.1 Short-latency sensory afferent inhibition: stimulus intensity and recording site 17 1.5.2 The effect of 1Hz r...