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First published online on October 9, 2006.
Experimental Physiology (2006)
DOI: 10.1113/expphysiol.2006.035378
© The Physiological Society 2006
A more recent version of this article appeared on January 1, 2007
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Received August 18, 2006
Revised September 7, 2006
Accepted after revision October 3, 2006

Autonomic Neuroscience [200]

Paton Lecture: Landmarks in understanding the central nervous control of ther cardiovascular system

John H. Coote 1*

1 University of Birmingham

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.h.coote{at}bham.ac.uk.


  Abstract
Abstract In this Paton Lecture I have tried to trace the key experiments that have developed ideas on how the brain regulates the cardiovascular system. It is a personal view and inevitably, because of space and time, I have not been able to cover areas such as the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) and cardiac vagal neurones, although I acknowledge, some may consider the story is incomplete without them. Starting with the crucial discovery of vasomotor nerves and 'vasomotor tone' the patterns of activity in sympathetic nerves which led to the important idea of central oscillating networks of neurones, are described. How this knowledge has informed current controversies on the origin of vasomotor activity in pre-sympathetic neurones in the ventral medulla, which identify intrinsic pacemaker activity or synaptic input from multiple oscillators as prime mechanisms, is discussed. I present an emerging view that the role of other regions of the brain, in particular supramedullary sites, has been underplayed. These regions are pivotal for the non-uniform distribution of cardiac output that is unique to each reflex and behavioural state. I discuss the most recent evidence for 'central command' neurones that offers a plausible explanation for how these patterns of sympathetic activity are achieved. Finally I stress the importance of these current ideas to understanding pathological changes in sympathetic activity in cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension or congestive heart failure.

Key Words: Autonomic nervous system, Cardiovascular, Sympathetic nervous system




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