BACKGROUND Only recently have data been published attempting to validate a technology and technique suitable for targeted delivery of biological payloads to the human spinal cord. OBJECTIVE To characterize the development and evolution of a spine-stabilized microinjection platform as a vehicle for biologics delivery to the cervical and thoracolumbar spine on the basis of preclinical experienc...

Background: The areas of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) with a high density of estrogen receptors are involved in cardiovascular regulation and send axonal projections to the rostroventrolateral medulla (RVLM). We aimed to find the contribution of the RVLM to cardiovascular responses elicited by glutamate microinjection into the BST. Methods: Experiments were done in α-ch...

The raphe magnus (RM) participates in opioid analgesia and contains pain-modulatory neurons with respiration-related discharge. Here, we asked whether RM contributes to respiratory depression, the most prevalent lethal effect of opioids. To investigate whether opioidergic transmission in RM produces respiratory depression, we microinjected a mu-opioid receptor agonist, DAMGO, or morphine into t...

Background: The nucleus raphe magnus (NRM) is involved in thermoregulatory processing. There is a correlation between changes in the firing rates of the cells in the NRM and the application of the peripheral thermal stimulus. Introduction: we examined the effect of reversible inactivation and excitation of NRM on mechanisms involved in tail blood flow (TBF) regulation in hypothermia. Methods: H...

BACKGROUND Microinjection approaches in the cardiac cell context have allowed delivery of various calcium dyes and monitoring of short-term physiological responses. However, unlike other cell types, it has proved difficult to microinject myocardial cells without the concomitant loss of long-term cell viability. METHODS AND RESULTS An analysis of experimental variables was conducted to adapt m...

Quantitative analysis of innervation to dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV) fundus-projecting neurons indicates that approximately 17% of input neurons are noradrenergic. To determine whether this small percentage of neurons innervating DMV output to the stomach is physiologically relevant, we evaluated the role of norepinephrine at the DMV in mediating a vagovagal reflex controlling the fu...

background: the nucleus raphe magnus (nrm) is involved in thermoregulatory processing. there is a correlation between changes in the firing rates of the cells in the nrm and the application of the peripheral thermal stimulus. introduction: we examined the effect of reversible inactivation and excitation of nrm on mechanisms involved in tail blood flow (tbf) regulation in hypothermia. methods: h...

It has been shown that nitric oxide is synthesized in the central nervous system as well as in vascular endothelial cells. Recently, it was reported that nitric oxide was involved in central cardiovascular regulation, baroreflex modulation, and involved in a reciprocal release with excitatory amino acids in the nucleus tractus solitarii of rats. The purpose of the present study was to investiga...