Neural Mechanisms of Swallowing Inhibition Following Noxious Orofacial Stimulation

The present findings suggest that facial skin-NTS, masseter muscle-NTS, lingual muscle-NTS and lingual muscle-Pa5-NTS pathways are involved in the swallowing inhibition by facial, masseter and lingual pain, and that the activation of GABAergic NTS neurons may be involved in inhibition of the swallowing reflex.