2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Botzinger complex and its role in respiratory rhythm generation
| Project/Area Number |
17500282
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Neurophysiology and muscle physiology
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| Research Institution | Saitama Medical University (2006-2007)
Tokyo Metropolitan Organization for Medical Research (2005) |
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Principal Investigator |
EZURE Kazuhisa Saitama Medical University, Department of Health and Medial Care, Professor (20132904)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2007
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| Keywords | Botzinger complex / respiratory center / rhythm / inhibitory neuron / parabrachial nucleus |
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| Research Abstract |
The medullary respiratory center involving a variety of respiratory neurons generates the automatic rhythmicity of respiration and produces the spatio-temporally organized contraction of respiration-related muscles. Electrophysiological and neuroanatomical studies using largely cats and rats, have greatly increased our knowledge about the overall respiratory system and its network mechanisms. Currently, a limited region of the ventrolateral medulla, which spans the areas called the Botzinger complex and the pre-Botzinger complex, is the focus of our attention. In this region, a number of excitatory and inhibitory neurons with specific firing patterns and characteristic morphological features have been identified. These neurons form the networks that involve 1) inhibitory connections between inspiratory and expiratory neurons, 2) excitatory connections between inspiratory neurons, 3) inhibitory connections between expiratory neurons, and 4) inhibitory connections between inspiratory neu
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rons. Some of these synaptic connections are essential for the generation of respiratory rhythm, and some for the formation of patterned respiratory outputs. We have shown that both augmenting and decrementing expiratory neurons of the Botzinger complex are key inhibitory neurons for the respiratory rhythm and that they use glycine as their inhibitory transmitter. The pontine area around the parabrachial nucleus including the Kolliker-Fuse nucleus is deeply involved in respiratory control and called the pontine respiratory group. we analyzed the firing patterns and the axonal projections of pontine respiratory neurons. Six types of firing patterns were identified. The majority of the respiratory neurons examined were antidromically activated by electrical stimulation of the medulla. They were activated from the ventrolateral medulla around the ventral respiratory group and the Botzinger complex and from the dorsomedial medulla, suggesting that the pontine respiratory neurons are closely linked with the medullary respiratory neurons including- the Botzinger neurons. Less
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