Participation of opioids in respiratory rhythmogenesis

• Grant number: 03/09723-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: January 03, 2005
• End date: February 28, 2005
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Compared Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Luciane Helena Gargaglioni Batalhão
• Grantee: Luciane Helena Gargaglioni Batalhão
• Host Investigator: Richard J. A. Wilson
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Calgary, Canada

Abstract

The medulla is recognized as playing a key role in generating the respiratory rhythm. In anurans amphibians, two coupled but spatially distinct areas within the medulla are necessary for generating buccal and lung ventilation. Recent studies in mammals using opioids suggest that the mammalian respiratory rhythm generator may also be composed of two populations of rhythmogenic neurons: opioid-sensitive neurons (I neurons) located within the PreBotzinger Complex (preBötzC), and opioid-insensitive neurons (pre-l neurons) located within and rostral to the preBötzC. In this proposal, I will determine whether the lung and buccal oscillators are functionally similar to the I and Prel oscillators of mammals. I will test the hypothesis that the amphibian oscillators, like the mammalian oscillators, differ in their sensitivity to opioids. (AU)