Abstract
Acute experiments on rats showed that intraperitoneal administration of 5 μg/kg of a bacterial toxin (pyrogenal) increases the afferent impulsation frequency in the cervical segments of vagus nerves, VN (multifiber recording), and frequency of the multineuronal activity in the solitary tract nucleus (STN); these changes were observed during the whole period of recording (10–160 min following toxin injection). Enhancement of the efferent impulsation in the VN and neuronal activity in the dorsal nucleus of the vagus nerve (DNVN) could be observed only 120–130 min after toxin administration. Under these conditions rectal temperature in experimental animals was 1.5° higher than that in control rats throughout the period of recording. Following subdiaphragmatic vagotomy, the afferent impulsation frequency in the cervical VN decreased about four times and kept on decreasing during the whole period of registration. Pyrogenal introduction evoked no changes in the direction of reactions to vagotomy. Under these conditions, body temperature of these animals was 2.5°C higher than in control vagotomized rats by the final stage of recording. Animal heating in a chamber caused no changes in the afferent impulsation frequency and resulted in a decrease in the frequency of VN efferent discharges. Involvement of the VN in the maintenance of temperature homeostasis during fever induced by the endotoxin action and by hyperthermia due to a rise in ambient temperature is discussed.
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Neirofiziologiya/Neurophysiology, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 112–119, March–April, 2000.
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Lapsha, V.I., Azev, O.A., Lukashenko, T.M. et al. Electrical activity in the vagus nerves and some medullary nuclei in rats: Changes induced by endotoxin action and hyperthermia evoked by an increase in ambient temperatures. Neurophysiology 32, 85–91 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02515174
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02515174