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. 1981 Dec;1(4):401-5.
doi: 10.1007/BF00716274.

Biphasic responses to acetylcholine in mammalian reticulospinal neurons

R W Greene  1 , D O Carpenter
Affiliations

Biphasic responses to acetylcholine in mammalian reticulospinal neurons

R W Greene et al. Cell Mol Neurobiol. 1981 Dec.

Abstract

Acetylcholine (ACh) responses were elicited by ionophoresis from neurons, located in the medial pontine reticular formation, which were antidromically identified as having axons projecting in the reticulospinal tracts. Most neurons were silent at rest and could be caused to discharge at a regular, slow rate by a constant application of glutamate. ACh altered this slow rate of firing in 28 of 29 cells but showed three different patterns of effect: approximately one-third were excited, one-third were inhibited, and one-third showed biphasic inhibition-excitation. The ACh responses were not sensitive to atropine. These observations suggest that reticulospinal neurons have ACh receptors mediating both inhibition and excitation, perhaps located on different portions of the same neuron.

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