Carbachol injection into the pontine reticular formation depresses laryngeal muscle activities and airway reflexes in decerebrate cats

To understand the role of cholinoceptive, medial pontine reticular formation (mPRF) neurons in the control of upper airway, pharyngolaryngeal reflexes, we measured activities of intrinsic laryngeal muscles (posterior cricoarytenoid, PCA; thyroarytenoid, TA), diaphragm (DIA), genioglossus (GG) and a neck muscle (trapezius) in unanesthetized, decerebrated, spontaneously breathing cats with and without mPRF carbachol injections. The ethimoidal nerve was electrically stimulated to evoke sneezing, and the superior laryngeal nerve to evoke the laryngeal reflex, swallowing, and coughing. Carbachol reduced the amplitudes of the spontaneous electromyographic activities in the neck, TA, PCA, GG, and DIA to 7%, 30%, 54%, 45% and 71% of control, respectively, reduced the respiratory rate to 53% without changes in expiratory CO2 concentration; the magnitude of the laryngeal reflex in the TA muscle to 56%; increased its latency by 13%; and reduced the probability of stimulus-induced sneezing, swallowing, and coughing to less than 40%. These changes lasted more than 1 h. These data demonstrate that important upper airway reflexes are suppressed by increasing cholinergic neurotransmission in the mPRF. Because acetylcholine release in the mPRF changes in accordance with sleep–wake cycles, the present findings are relevant to the control of upper airway reflexes during various vigilance states.