Responsiveness to Nicotine of Nucleus Tractus Solitarius Neurons

Dr. Smith will conduct experiments pertaining to the Nrn: R01DK082625. In these experiments, visceral organs of rats (e.g., stomach, kidney, heart) will be inoculated with pseudorabies virus (pRV-152) to label neurons of the brainstem nuc1eus of the solitary tract (NTS) that project to those visceral organs. The labeled neurons will be identified in brainstem slices 5 days after the injection under a fluorescent microscope and electrophysiological recordings will be conducted to detennine differences:4l the expression ofnicotinic acetylcholirie (nAChR) and the neuronal properties oflabeled and unlabeled (control) NTS neurons. Therefore, the neuronal properties and the expression of nAChRs in labeled NTS neurons will be correlates with the neuronal projection targets.