The Effects of Utricular Lesions on Sympathetic Controlo of Cardiovascular Function During +GZ Stress

Abstract

The vestibular system has long been recognized to play an important role in autonomic control, having important influences over the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, renal, respiratory, and oculomotor systems. The effects of vestibular stimulation and lesion have been observed in these systems. A recent theory sought to clarify the previously documented vestibular-autonomic relationships by postulating the utricles to have a predominantly sympatho-excitatory autonomic effect whereas the other vestibular end-organ systems exert a predominantly parasympatho-excitatory/sympatho-inhibitory effect. Thus this proposed research attempted to eliminate untricular sympathetic inputs by selectively destroying hair cells of the otolith organs ( of the utricles in particular) in animals by exposing them to extremely high and prolonged Gy stimulation (+, - or both). The specific measure of sympathetic function was to be changes in G- induced loss of consciousness ( 0-LOC) induction time and cardiac output during +Oz stress. A utricular hair cell lesion model prolonged centrifugation of rats in the Gy axis was developed. The method of eliminating vestibular influence offers advantage of being fairly" non- invasive

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA397629

Entities

People

  • Paul Werchan

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Anatomy
  • Animals
  • Autonomic Nervous System
  • Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena
  • Cardiovascular System
  • Consciousness
  • Department Of Defense
  • Ear
  • End Organs
  • Governments
  • Heart Rate
  • Laboratory Animals
  • Physiology
  • Procurement
  • United States
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Medicine

Readers

  • Auditory Neuroscience/Auditory Physiology.
  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Cardiovascular Physiology