Anodal block of medullated cardiopulmonary vagal afferents in cats

Abstract

In anesthetized cats examination was made of the conditions under which the application of DC current to a mixed nerve permits determination of whether a reflex response is mediated by medullated or nonmedullated afferents. The following precautions should be observed. The nerve must be stripped of its sheath and bleeding avoided. The anode should be 6 mm distant from the cathode. The temperature of the mineral oil surrounding the nerve should be 30–32 degrees C to avoid activation of nonmedullated fibers during the block. The major limitation is a time- and frequency-dependent block of nonmedullated fibers which makes the technique suitable only for differentiating between medullated fibers and nonmedullated fibers with low frequency traffic. Observing these criteria, anodal block of the cervical vagus in sino-aortic denervated cats resulted in a mean rise in aortic pressure of 8 Torr; subsequent cold block caused a further mean rise of 30 Torr. Thus 80% of the total increase in aortic pressure could be ascribed to interruption of vagal C-fiber activity.