GABAB receptors on vagal afferent pathways: peripheral and central inhibition

Abstract

To investigate GABAB receptors along vagal afferent pathways, we recorded from vagal afferents, medullary neurons, and vagal efferents in ferrets. Baclofen (7-14 µmol/kg iv) reduced gastric tension receptor and nucleus tractus solitarii neuronal responses to gastric distension but not gastroduodenal mucosal receptor responses to cholecystokinin (CCK). GABAB antagonists CGP-35348 or CGP-62349 reversed effects of baclofen. Vagal efferents showed excitatory and inhibitory responses to distension and CCK. Baclofen (3 nmol icv or 7-14 µmol/kg iv) reduced both distension response types but reduced only inhibitory responses to CCK. CGP-35348 (100 nmol icv or 100 µmol/kg iv) reversed baclofen's effect on distension responses, but inhibitory responses to CCK remained attenuated. They were, however, reversed by CGP-62349 (0.4 nmol icv). In conclusion, GABAB receptors inhibit mechanosensitivity, not chemosensitivity, of vagal afferents peripherally. Mechanosensory input to brain stem neurons is also reduced centrally by GABAB receptors, but excitatory chemosensory input is unaffected. Inhibitory mechano- and chemosensory inputs to brain stem neurons (via inhibitory interneurons) are both reduced, but the pathway taken by chemosensory input involves GABAB receptors that are insensitive to CGP-35348.