Preferential correlations of a medullary neuron's activity to different sympathetic outflows as revealed by partial...

1. In vagotomized, paralyzed, decerebrate cats, simultaneous recordings were taken from one or more sympathetic nerves [cervical sympathetic (CS), inferior cardiac (IC), splanchnic (SP)] and from medullary neurons in vasomotor-related regions. Coherence analyses were used to ascertain the presence of sympathetic rhythms (2-6 Hz or "3-Hz rhythm," 7-13 Hz or "10-Hz rhythm") that were correlated between different signals. The occurrence of a significant peak at such a frequency in a unit-nerve coherence spectrum allowed the identification of a medullary neuron as sympathetic related. 2. A serendipitous example is given of a rostral ventrolateral medullary neuron that had significant unit-nerve 10-Hz coherence peaks for three sympathetic nerves (CS, IC, SP); but, as revealed by partial coherence analysis, the unit activity's correlation with one nerve's activity could be partially or completely dependent on its correlation with other nerve activities. Thus in this case the unit-CS and unit-IC coherences at 10 Hz were completely dependent on the SP rhythm, whereas the unit-SP coherence was not significantly affected by the CS and IC rhythms. This asymmetry suggests that the neuron was preferentially connected to SP-generating medullary circuits. 3. This example indicates the strength of partial coherence analysis as a means of studying differential connectivity between medullary sympathetic-related neurons and sympathetic output neuron populations.