Stimulation of raphe (obscurus) nucleus causes long-term potentiation of phrenic nerve activity in cat

1. The respiratory response, measured as integrated phrenic nerve activity, during and for up to an hour following 10 min of continuous electrical stimulation of raphe obscurus was quantitated in anaesthetized, artificially ventilated cats whose carotid sinus nerves and vagus nerves had been cut. End-tidal PCO2 and body temperature were kept constant with servocontrollers. 2. Stimulation of raphe obscurus caused a significant increase in both phrenic tidal activity and respiratory frequency that persisted following cessation of the stimulus. This persistent facilitation is referred to as 'long-term potentiation' of respiration. 3. Control stimulations in the parenchyma of the medulla oblongata failed to stimulate respiration and cause the long-term potentiation. 4. Both the direct facilitatory effects of raphe obscurus stimulation on phrenic nerve activity and the long-term potentiation of respiration following the stimulus were prevented by pre-treating cats with methysergide, a serotonin receptor antagonist. 5. The results are discussed in terms of the raphe obscurus being the potential source of the long-term potentiation of respiration that occurs following stimulation of carotid body afferents (Millhorn, Eldridge & Waldrop, 1980a, b).