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Published on: February 14, 2014
Fast rhythms in the discharges of medullary inspiratory neurons
C N Christakos1, M I Cohen, W R See
1Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461.
Abstract:
The discharges of 44 medullary inspiratory (I) neurons in decerebrate paralyzed cats were studied using interval and spectral analysis. Most neurons had a rhythm in their discharge. In 31 the rhythm was at the frequency of, and coherent to, the high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) of I nerves, and in 7 the rhythm was in the range of medium-frequency oscillations (MFOs), with no coherence to nerve MFOs. Thus, correlated HFOs are characteristic of the I system at all levels, whereas MFOs are uncommon in medullary neurons and seem to be unrelated to general mechanisms.
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