A new model for the generation of sympathetic nerve activity

Abstract

1. Sympathetic discharges from multifibre nerve recordings vary in their frequency of occurrence which displays both slow and fast rhythms and in their amplitude which reflects the number of activated fibres. It has been shown that the frequency of occurrence of these rhythms varies according to baroreceptor activity (via blood pressure and heart rate) while the number of activated fibres is independently affected by chemoreceptor activity. 2. A new model is proposed for the generation of sympathetic nerve activity by the central nervous system to account for these results. The upper layer of the model comprises two oscillators, a fast and a slow cycle frequency oscillator, with the balance and occurrence maintained by afferent inputs such as the baroreceptors. 3. It is hypothesized that two central oscillators impinge on a lower layer of the model influencing the number of activated fibres within each postganglionic sympathetic burst. This is independent of the frequency control and affected by separate afferent inputs such a chemoreceptors.