Metabolic activation of specific postsynaptic elements in superior cervical ganglion by antidromic stimulation of external carotid nerve.

Using the rat superior cervical ganglion in vivo as a model of the central nervous system, we have sought to determine whether postsynaptic elements as well as terminal processes are metabolically activated during impulse activity. The rate of glucose utilization in the ganglion was found to be stimulated by antidromic stimulation of the external carotid nerve. This stimulation was frequency-dependent and was confined only to the region in the caudal portion of the ganglion corresponding to the location of the cell bodies of origin of the external carotid nerve.