OBJECTIVES To map mechanoreceptor response in various regions of the laryngopharynx. METHODS Five patients with suspected laryngopharyngeal reflux and six healthy control subjects underwent stimulation of mechanoreceptors in the hypopharynx, interarytenoid area, arytenoids, aryepiglottic folds, and pyriform sinuses. The threshold stimuli evoking sensation and eliciting laryngeal adductor refl...

Habituation in Stentor was shown in the previous paper (Wood, 1988) to result from a progressive diminution in mechanoreceptor potential amplitude during the course of repetitive mechanical stimulation. The source of this diminution was analyzed in the present studies by eliciting mechanoreceptor currents from control and habituated cells under voltage clamp control. The I-V plots obtained have...

Prior work in animals suggests that muscle mechanoreceptor control of sympathetic activation (MSNA) during exercise in heart failure (HF) is heightened and that muscle mechanoreceptors are sensitized by metabolic by-products. We sought to determine whether 1) muscle mechanoreceptor control of MSNA is enhanced in HF patients and 2) lactic acid sensitizes muscle mechanoreceptors during rhythmic h...

(+)-Tubocurarine (TC) decreases the probability that the protozoan, Stentor coeruleus Ehrenberg, will contract in response to mechanical stimulation, because it selectively depresses mechanoreceptor currents. Resting membrane properties and action potentials are not significantly altered by the drug. Stentor incubated in media containing radioactively labelled TC (TC*) retain TC* after extensiv...

Preganglionic vagal motoneurones supplying the heart of the dogfish have been located in the medulla by antidromic stimulation of the central cut end of the branchial cardiac branch of the vagus. They supplied axons with conduction velocities between 4.75 and 16.3 m s-1, which is similar to mammalian B fibres. Motoneurones were found in two locations: the rostromedial (N = 5) and lateral (N = 1...

BACKGROUND The physiopathogenesis of proliferative scarring in human skin is not well understood. Furthermore, knowledge of the precise mechanisms of action for physical treatment modalities is limited. Compression garments, occlusive/adhesive skin taping, and silicone gel sheets are applied to form an occlusion on the scar surface, reduce tension, and/or increase pressure on the scar itself. T...

Scorpion pectines are paired, ventral appendages that extend from their eleventh body segment. Each pecten resembles a comb with a jointed spine connecting numerous teeth. The ventral surface of each tooth contains a dense patch of truncated hairs, called peg sensilla. Morphological and electrophysiological studies have concluded that numerous chemoreceptive neurons are present in each peg whil...