Differential control of sympathetic nerve discharge by the brain stem

This investigation was designed to test the hypothesis that the brain stem differentially controls the basal discharges of postganglionic sympathetic nerves distributed to different organs. Previous studies have shown that the 2- to 6-Hz activity pattern in sympathetic nerves of the baroreceptor-denervated cat originates in the brain stem. In the current study, autocorrelation and power spectral analyses were used to compare the 2- to 6-Hz frequency components of the simultaneously recorded discharges of postganglionic sympathetic nerve pairs (inferior cardiac and renal; external carotid and renal) in baroreceptor-denervated cats anesthetized with sodium diallylbarbiturate and urethan (Dialurethane). In addition, spike-triggered averaging was used to compare the relative strengths of coupling of the basal discharges of single ventrolateral medullary reticular or medullary raphe neurons to activity in postganglionic sympathetic nerve pairs. The major findings of the study are as follows: 1) the predominant 2- to 6-Hz frequency component in the basal discharges of one sympathetic nerve often was different from that in the discharges of a second nerve, and 2) the activity of approximately one-third of ventrolateral medullary reticular neurons and one-half of medullary raphe neurons (with sympathetic-related activity) was differentially related to the discharges of postganglionic nerve pairs. These results support the view that the brain stem reticular formation and raphe complex exert their influences on different sympathetic nerves in a nonuniform fashion.