Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHODS
Volume 317, Issue -, Pages 49-60Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.02.004
Keywords
Respiratory rhythm; Respiratory pattern; Cough; Airway defense; Brainstem; Hering-Breuer reflex; Pneumotaxic center
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Funding
- Australian Research council (ARC) [FT120100953]
- Australian Research Council [FT120100953] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
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The perfused working heart brainstem preparation of rodents has become a widely used tool to study brainstem function. Here, we adapt this experimental technique for newborn guinea pigs (postnatal day 7-14) to develop a tool that enables investigation of airway defense mechanisms not observed in other rodents. The perfused guinea pig brainstem preparation generates a stable eupnea-like motor pattern recorded from the phrenic, recurrent laryngeal and intercostal nerves and basic cardio-respiratory reflexes, including the arterial chemoreceptor, the baroreceptor reflex. In addition a fictive laryngeal cough reflex can be reliably elicited after mechanical stimulation of the trachea. Single unit recordings within the ponto-medullary respiratory column show robust central respiratory neuronal activity. Additionally, as in other species ponto-medullary transection of the brainstem produces apneusis. The latter suggests that the preparation fully preserves ponto-medullary synaptic connectivity that is required for eupnea-like respiratory rhythm and pattern formation and the mediation of various cardio-respiratory reflexes. We conclude that this novel research tool provides an alternative to established rat and mouse preparations and may become a experimental tool for the investigation of central mechanisms that mediate laryngeal cough.
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