Origins of arousal: roles for medullary reticular neurons

The existence of a primitive CNS function involved in the activation of all vertebrate behaviors, generalized arousal (GA), has been proposed. Here, we provide an overview of the neuroanatomical, neurophysiological and molecular properties of reticular neurons within the nucleus gigantocellularis (N...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in neurosciences (Regular ed.) 2012-08, Vol.35 (8), p.468-476
Main Authors: Pfaff, Donald W, Martin, Eugene M, Faber, Donald
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomy & physiology
Animal behavior
Animals
Arousal - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Fish
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects. Models. Methods
Humans
Mauthner
medulla
Medulla Oblongata - cytology
Medulla Oblongata - physiology
Neurology
Neurons
Neurons - cytology
Neurons - physiology
Neurosciences
reticular formation
Reticular Formation - cytology
Reticular Formation - physiology
reticulospinal
Sleep. Vigilance
Vertebrates
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:The existence of a primitive CNS function involved in the activation of all vertebrate behaviors, generalized arousal (GA), has been proposed. Here, we provide an overview of the neuroanatomical, neurophysiological and molecular properties of reticular neurons within the nucleus gigantocellularis (NGC) of the mammalian medulla, and propose that the properties of these neurons equip them to contribute powerfully to GA. We also explore the hypothesis that these neurons may have evolved from the Mauthner cell in the medulla of teleost fish, although NGC neurons have a wider range of action far beyond the specific escape network served by Mauthner cells. Understanding the neuronal circuits that control and regulate GA is central to understanding how motivated behaviors such as hunger, thirst and sexual behaviors arise.
ISSN:0166-2236
1878-108X
DOI:10.1016/j.tins.2012.04.008