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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Electrophysiology on Isolated Brainstem-spinal Cord Preparations from Newborn Rodents Allows Neural Respiratory Network Output Recording
Published on: November 19, 2015
Activity of rat pump neurons is modulated with central respiratory rhythm
M Miyazaki1, A Arata, I Tanaka
1Department of Neurobiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Fuchu, Japan.
Abstract:
The firing properties of the second-order neurons of the slowly-adapting pulmonary stretch receptors called pump neurons (P-cells), were studied in Nembutal-anesthetized, paralyzed, and artificially-ventilated rats. Extracellular recording was made from single P-cells which were monosynaptically activated by electrical stimulation of the vagal afferents and fired in phase with lung inflations. In the majority of the P-cells examined (49/52), the firing was suppressed to various extents in the inspiratory phase: in effect, their firing was accentuated at the time of the inspiratory off-switch. This issue has never been reported in cat P-cells, on which relatively rich data have been accumulated. The present results suggest that rat P-cells do not only relay information from the lung stretch receptors but also integrate the central respiratory inputs.
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