The medullary reticular formation is a site of muscle relaxant action of diazepam on deep back and neck muscles in the female rat

Brain Research
S Schwartz-GiblinA Robbins

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that the effect of systemic injections of diazepam (DZ, 125 mg/kg) to reduce the quality of the reproductive behavior, lordosis, and to reduce the EMG of lumbar back muscles involved in lordosis (Schwartz-Giblin et al., 1984) is exerted through a reticulospinal pathway with cells of origin in the nucleus gigantocellularis that excites lumbar motoneurons indirectly (Robbins et al., 1990, Robbins et al., 1992). In contrast, DZ facilitates lordosis behavior when infused into the midbrain central gray (McCarthy et al., 1995). Direct deposits of crystalline mixtures of DZ (20-80 ng) in dextrose were delivered to the medullary reticular formation (MRF) by diffusion from a cannula inserted through a guide to which a bipolar stimulating electrode was attached. The multiunit EMG response evoked by 20 (300 ms long) stimulus trains was recorded in back and neck muscles, lateral longissimus and splenius before and 5, 15, 30 and 60 min after local DZ deposits. There was a significant reduction in EMG response over this time period when stimulus intensities were within the range of 1.2-1.5 times threshold (Friedman two-way non-parametric test, P < 0.002). Large amplitude motor units that provide large tensions were t...Continue Reading

Citations

Aug 9, 2013·Journal of Neurophysiology·C H HubscherT S Brink

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