Characterization of cat nasal afferents and brain stem neurones receiving ethmoidal input

Stimulation of the nasal mucous membrane can initiate protective reflexes, particularly sneezing and apnea. Very little is known about the receptors in the nasal cavity responsible for initiating these reflexes, which are thought to be mediated by trigeminal rather than olfactory pathways. In the cat, the ethmoidal branch of the ophthalmic division of V carries this afferent information. The objectives of the present study were to determine a set of adequate nasal receptor stimuli capable of initiating these protective reflexes; to characterize the types of information carried in the ethmoidal nerve afferents, by recording from single fibers dissected from the nerve; to determine the conduction velocities of these afferents, by recording from the cell bodies of ethmoidal afferents in the trigeminal ganglion; and to study the second-order neurones in the brain stem on which these afferents make contact. Results of single fiber recording indicated that, in addition to being tactile, approximately half of the neurones studied also responded to noxious chemical stimuli. The conduction velocity of the majority of these afferents were found to be in the A-delta range. Second-order neurones in spinal trigeminal nucleus which had an input from the ethmoidal nerve could be divided into two classifications: (i) low threshold mechanoreceptive (LTM) neurones which received light tactile input and did not respond to noxious chemical or mechanical stimuli applied to the nasal cavity, and (ii) wide dynamic range (WDR) neurones which responded to both noxious and nonnoxious chemical or mechanical stimuli applied to the nasal cavity.