The 10-Hz rhythm in sympathetic nerve discharge

Frequency-domain analysis was used to characterize the relationships among the rhythmic discharges recorded simultaneously from two to four sympathetic nerves in unanesthetized decerebrate cats. The major new findings were as follows. 1) The 10-Hz rhythmic discharges of different nerves cohered strongly in baroreceptor-innervated and -denervated cats. 2) The interval between the discharges of two nerves was frequency dependent in the 10-Hz band in some cats, supporting the view that the 10-Hz rhythm is generated by multiple central circuits that are coupled. 3) In some cases the central circuits responsible for the 10-Hz rhythms nonuniformly affected different nerves. 4) In baroreceptor-innervated cats the coherence values for the cardiac-related discharges of any two nerves were significantly higher than those for the 10-Hz rhythms. 5) In baroreceptor-denervated cats the 10-Hz rhythmic discharges of different nerves cohered more strongly than the 2- to 6-Hz rhythms. 6) The 10-Hz rhythm usually was not a harmonic of the 2- to 6-Hz or cardiac-related rhythm. Thus these rhythms are generated independently.