Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2010 Nov 30;174(1-2):102-10. doi: 10.1016/j.resp.2010.05.005. Epub 2010 May 7.
The respiratory and cardiovascular systems are highly intertwined, both anatomically and physiologically. Respiratory and cardiovascular neurons are often co-localized in the same brainstem regions, and this is particularly evident in the ventral medulla which contains presympathetic neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla, premotor parasympathetic cardioinhibitory neurons in the nucleus ambiguus, and the ventral respiratory group, which includes the pre-Botzinger complex. Anatomical studies of respiratory and cardiovascular neurons have demonstrated that many of these neurons have projections and axon collateral processes which extend into their neighboring cardiorespiratory regions providing an anatomical substrate for cardiorespiratory interactions. As other reports in this Special Issue of Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology focus on interactions between the respiratory network and baroreceptors, neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarius, presympathetic neurons and sympathetic activity, this report will focus on the respiratory modulation of parasympathetic activity and the neurons that generate parasympathetic activity to the heart, cardiac vagal neurons.
呼吸系统和心血管系统在解剖学和生理学上高度交织。呼吸和心血管神经元通常在同一脑干区域共存，这在腹侧髓质中尤为明显，其中包含延髓头端腹外侧部的交感前神经元、疑核中的前运动副交感心抑制神经元和包括前包钦格复合体在内的腹侧呼吸群。对呼吸和心血管神经元的解剖研究表明，许多这些神经元具有投射和轴突侧支过程，延伸到它们相邻的心肺区域，为心肺相互作用提供了解剖学基础。由于本呼吸生理学与神经生物学特刊中的其他报告侧重于呼吸网络与压力感受器之间的相互作用、孤束核中的神经元、交感前神经元和交感活性，本报告将重点关注呼吸对副交感活性的调节以及产生心脏副交感活动的神经元，即心脏迷走神经神经元。
