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The Digastric Muscle is Less Involved in Pharyngeal Swallowing in Rabbits

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Abstract

The swallowing reflex is centrally programmed by the lower brain stem, the so-called swallowing central pattern generator (CPG), and once the reflex is initiated, many muscles in the oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, and esophageal regions are systematically activated. The mylohyoid (MH) muscle has been considered to be a “leading muscle” according to previous studies, but the functional role of the digastric (DIG) muscle in the swallowing reflex remains unclear. In the present study, therefore, the activities of single units of MH and DIG neurons were recorded extracellularly, and the functional involvement of these neurons in the swallowing reflex was investigated. The experiments were carried out on eight adult male Japanese white rabbits anesthetized with urethane. To identify DIG and MH neurons, the peripheral nerve (either DIG or MH) was stimulated to evoke action potentials of single motoneurons. Motoneurons were identified as such if they either (1) responded to antidromic nerve stimulation of DIG or MH in an all-or-none manner at threshold intensities and (2) followed stimulation frequencies of up to 0.5 kHz. As a result, all 11 MH neurons recorded were synchronously activated during the swallowing reflex, while there was no activity in any of the 7 DIG neurons recorded during the swallowing reflex. All neurons were anatomically localized ventromedially at the level of the caudal portion of the trigeminal motor nucleus, and there were no differences between the MH and DIG neuron sites. The present results strongly suggest that at least in the rabbit, DIG motoneurons are not tightly controlled by the swallowing CPG and, hence, the DIG muscle is less involved in the swallowing reflex.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Mr. Hidetoshi Hirano for technical assistance. This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (#23659982 to M.I.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Dysphagia Rehabilitation, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 2-5274 Gakkocho-dori, Chuo-ku, Niigata, 951-8514, Japan

    Takanori Tsujimura, Aki Yamada, Yuki Nakamura, Takako Fukuhara & Makoto Inoue

  2. Division of Oral Physiology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan

    Kensuke Yamamura

Authors
  1. Takanori Tsujimura
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  2. Aki Yamada
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  3. Yuki Nakamura
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  4. Takako Fukuhara
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  5. Kensuke Yamamura
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  6. Makoto Inoue
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Correspondence to Makoto Inoue.

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Tsujimura, T., Yamada, A., Nakamura, Y. et al. The Digastric Muscle is Less Involved in Pharyngeal Swallowing in Rabbits. Dysphagia 27, 271–276 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-011-9363-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-011-9363-z

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