The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
J Neurophysiol. 2010 May;103(5):2326-38. doi: 10.1152/jn.01122.2009. Epub 2010 Feb 24.
The connectivity of large neurons of the nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis (NRGc) in the medullary reticular formation potentially allows both for the integration of stimuli, in several modalities, that would demand immediate action, and for coordinated activation of cortical and motoric activity. We have simultaneously recorded cortical local field potentials, neck muscle electromyograph (EMG), and the neural activity of medullary NRGc neurons in unrestrained, unanesthetized rats to determine whether the activity of the NRGc is consistent with the modulation of general arousal. We observed excitatory responses of individual NRGc neurons to all modalities tested: tactile, visual, auditory, vestibular, and olfactory. Excitation was directly linked to increases in neck muscle EMG amplitude and corresponded with increases in the power of fast oscillations (30 to 80 Hz) of cortical activity and decreases in the power of slow oscillations (2 to 8 Hz). Because these reticular formation neurons can respond to broad ranges of stimuli with increased firing rates associated with the initiation of behavioral responses, we infer that they are part of an elementary "first responder" CNS arousal mechanism.
巨细胞网状核（NRGc）的大神经元的连通性有可能整合多种刺激，这些刺激需要立即做出反应，并协调大脑皮层和运动活动的激活。我们在未受约束和未麻醉的大鼠中同时记录大脑皮层局部场电位、颈部肌肉肌电图（EMG）和延髓 NRGB 神经元的神经活动，以确定 NRGB 的活动是否与一般觉醒的调制一致。我们观察到单个 NRGB 神经元对所有测试模态的兴奋性反应：触觉、视觉、听觉、前庭和嗅觉。兴奋与颈部肌肉 EMG 幅度的增加直接相关，并且与大脑皮层活动的快速振荡（30 至 80 Hz）的功率增加和缓慢振荡（2 至 8 Hz）的功率降低相对应。由于这些网状结构神经元可以对广泛的刺激做出反应，其放电率增加与行为反应的开始相关，因此我们推断它们是基本的“第一反应者”中枢神经系统唤醒机制的一部分。
