Somatostatin in the control of respiration

Somatostatin has been found to induce apnoea when applied into the brain ventricular system (Fuxe et al. 1982, Härfstrand et al. 1985). The site of action of somatostatin was suggested to be in the dorsal respiratory neurons in the medulla oblongata of the rat (Fuxe et al. 1982) where high somatostatin-like immunoreactivity has been detected (Kalia et al. 1984a). In the present study we wanted to further localize the site(s) of action of somatostatin on respiration by microinjection of somatostatin into the medulla oblongata of the cats. We could not detect any inhibitory effect of somatostatin on respiration after microinjection into the nuclear complex of the solitary tract. On the other hand microinjection of somatostatin into the region of nucleus paragigantocellularis lateralis consistently caused apnoea. This finding further supports the idea that this structure functions as an integrative area of respiratory drive inputs.