Medullary control of the pontine swallowing neurones in sheep.

The origin of the inputs from the medullary swallowing centre (dorsal region including the nucleus of the solitary tract, or ventral region corresponding to the reticular formation surrounding the nucleus ambigous) to the pontine swallowing neurones (PSNs) was studied in sheep anaesthetized with halothane. Out of 101 PSNs located in the posterior part of the trigeminal (Vth) motor nucleus, 46 were activated by stimulating either the dorsal (21 neurones) or the ventral (25 neurones) region of the ipsilateral medullary swallowing centre, 3-4 mm rostral from the obex. Thirty-one neurones out of the 46 were identified as alpha motoneurones supplying swallowing muscles (mylohyoïd, anterior body of digastric and medial pterygoïd). Their average activation latency through stimulation of the dorsal medullary region was about 1 ms longer than through stimulation of the ventral region (3.63 ms +/- 0.81 versus 2.72 ms +/- 0.32). To determine the origin of the medullary input to the PSNs, we tried to activate the medullary swallowing neurones (MSNs) antidromically through stimulating the posterior part of the Vth motor nucleus, which contains the swallowing motoneurones. Seventy-three MSNs were tested (25 located in the dorsal and 48 in the ventral region). None of the dorsal neurones tested could be antidromically activated by pontine stimulation: 15 ventral neurones showed a clear antidromic response (collision test) with an average latency of 2.5 ms +/- 0.73. These neurones, which send their axons into the pons, were all located in the reticular formation, above the nucleus ambiguus, 3-4 mm rostral from the obex.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)