Processing of central and reflex vagal drives by rat cardiac ganglion neurones: An intracellular analysis

Abstract

Cardiac vagal tone is an important indicator of cardiovascular health, and its loss is an independent risk factor for arrhythmias and mortality. Several studies suggest that this loss of vagal tone can occur at the cardiac ganglion but the factors affecting ganglionic transmissionin vivoare poorly understood. We have employed a novel approach allowing intracellular recordings from functionally connected cardiac vagal ganglion cells in the working heart-brainstem preparation. The atria were stabilisedin situpreserving their central neural connections, and ganglion cells (n= 32) were impaled with sharp microelectrodes. Cardiac ganglion cells with vagal synaptic inputs (spontaneous,n= 10; or el..