Receptive fields of solitario-parabrachial relay neurons responsive to natural stimulation of the oral cavity in rats

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Abstract
The receptive field (RF) of 67 taste and 85 mechanoreceptive neurons in the solitary tract nucleus (NTS) were located in the oral cavity in albino rats. All of the taste and most (62.4%) of the mechanoreceptive neurons examined had an RF on the ipsilateral side of the tongue and/or the palate. Regardless of whether they were solitario-parabrachial relay (SP) neurons or non-SP neurons, RFs of taste neurons were found on the anterior as well as the posterior tongue. But there were some differences in the RF distribution between the SP and non-SP mechanoreceptive neurons. Most of the mechanoreceptive SP neurons (9 of 11) had an RF on the tongue, while ca. half of the mechanoreceptive non-SP neurons (43 of 79) had an RF on the tongue and palate, but the rest had an RF on other tissue. Most of the neurons studied had a small restricted RF, but complex RFs, e.g. two separate RFs on the tongue, were found in a relatively small number of neurons (four taste and five mechanoreceptive neurons). An inhibitory RF, usually in a remote place from the excitatory RFs, was found in four mechanoreceptive neurons but no inhibitory RFs for taste neurons. Electrical stimulation of the epithelium in the RF with a low current of short duration evoked a few spikes in most units. Two of the three units, giving rise to a vigorous response to taste stimulation, but having single restricted RFs on the anterior tongue, produced a train of spikes lasting more than 20 ms in response to electrical stimulation of the RF. Neurons with RFs on the anterior tongue and those with RFs on the posterior tongue were located in different regions in the NTS, suggesting a possible somatotopic representation of the oral cavity in the nucleus. RFs of neither taste neurons nor mechanoreceptive neurons could be found in the tongue region containing the circumvallate papilla. The possible reasons are discussed.