Abstract
IN the relay nuclei of the mammalian auditory system, one representation of sound frequency is the location of maximum neural activity within a nucleus. This spatial representation of stimulus quality is called tonotopic organization1. In the gustatory system, change in the response magnitudes to chemicals as a function of change in tongue region stimulated has already been demonstrated in the nucleus of the fasciculus solitarius (NFS)2. The preliminary data to be presented here indicate that discrete sub-areas which are highly responsive to some chemicals are located in the anterior tongue zone of the bulbar gustatory relay of the rat. The recording and stimulating techniques have been described previously2,3. The active electrode was a nickel-chrome wire, 25.4µ in diameter, insulated except at the tip. The multi-unit neural activity was led through an electronic summator4 into a recording milliammeter. The stimuli were liquids which flowed over the anterior tongue through a tongue chamber.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ades, H. W., in Handbook of Physiology, Section 1: Neurophysiology, 1, edit. by Field, J., 585 (Amer. Physiol. Soc., Washington, 1959).
Halpern, B. P., and Nelson, L. M., Amer. J. Physiol., 209, 105 (1965).
Pfaffman, C., Erickson, R. P., Frommer, G. P., and Halpern, B. P., in Sensory Communication, edit. by Rosenblith, W. A., 455 (Wiley, New York, 1961).
Halpern, B. P., in Biological Prototypes and Synthetic Systems, edit. by Bernard, E. E., and Kare, M. R., 22 (Plenum Press, New York, 1962).
Siegel, S., Nonparametric Statistics (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1956).
Pfaffman, C., in Handbook of Physiology, Section 1: Neurophysiology, 1, edit. by Field, J., 507 (Amer. Physiol. Soc., Washington, 1959).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
HALPERN, B. Chemotopic Organization in the Bulbar Gustatory Relay of the Rat. Nature 208, 393–395 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/208393a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/208393a0
This article is cited by
-
Organisation and characteristics of gastric chemoceptive neurons in frog brain-stem
Proceedings / Indian Academy of Sciences (1975)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.