| Literature DB >> 1683005 |
J C Smith1, H H Ellenberger, K Ballanyi, D W Richter, J L Feldman.
Abstract
The location of neurons generating the rhythm of breathing in mammals is unknown. By microsection of the neonatal rat brainstem in vitro, a limited region of the ventral medulla (the pre-Bötzinger Complex) that contains neurons essential for rhythmogenesis was identified. Rhythm generation was eliminated by removal of only this region. Medullary slices containing the pre-Bötzinger Complex generated respiratory-related oscillations similar to those generated by the whole brainstem in vitro, and neurons with voltage-dependent pacemaker-like properties were identified in this region. Thus, the respiratory rhythm in the mammalian neonatal nervous system may result from a population of conditional bursting pacemaker neurons in the pre-Bötzinger Complex.Entities:
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Year: 1991 PMID: 1683005 PMCID: PMC3209964 DOI: 10.1126/science.1683005
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Science ISSN: 0036-8075 Impact factor: 47.728