Central Autonomic System

Organization of the Hypothalamus

“…The median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) is a dense cluster of small cells in the lamina terminalis that extends along the anterior border of the third ventricle from the tip of the preoptic recess of the third ventricle dorsocaudally to a small triangular area between the descending columns of the fornix (Atlas plates 18-20). The MnPO plays a critical role in neural circuits controlling cardiovascular responses and fluid homeostasis (Saper and Levisohn, 1983;Saper and Stornetta, 2014). Consistent with this role it receives strong inputs from the subfornical organ and parabrachial nucleus (Lind et al, 1982;Saper and Levisohn, 1983;Fulwiler and Saper, 1984;Lind and Gross, 1987;Bester et al, 1997), and sends projections to the paraventricular nucleus and magnocellular cell groups, as well as to the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus (Gu and Simerly 1997;Thompson and Swanson, 1998).…”

“…A sexually dimorphic population of kisspeptin-containing neurons in the AVPV appear to play a particularly important role in the regulation of gonadoptropin secretion (Oakley et al, 2009;Semaan and Kauffman, 2010) A broader role in neuroendocrine regulation is suggested by the observation that the heaviest projections from the AVPV are to nuclei within the periventricular zone of the hypothalamus, including the paraventricular nucleus, and these regions also regulate autonomic function (Westerhaus and Loewy, 1999;Geerling et al, 2010). In addition, strong connections between the AVPV and the subfornical organ, median preoptic nucleus, and parastrial nucleus (see below) suggest a possible role for these neurons in the regulation of fluid homeostasis (Lind et al, 1990;Simerly, 1995a;Saper and Stornetta, 2014). Although the AVPV has not been implicated in the neural control of behavior, and does not generally provide major inputs to medial zone nuclei, it does send strong projections to the medial part of the medial preoptic nucleus and dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus.…”

“…However, on the basis of cytoarchitectonic (Simerly et al, 1984b), neurochemical (Simerly et al, 1985;Simerly and Swanson, 1987;Simerly, 1989;Herbison, 1992), connectional (Simerly and Swanson, 1988;Gu and Simerly, 1997;Simerly, 1998) and functional grounds (Wiegand and Terasawa, 1982;Herbison, 1998;Le et al, 1999) the AVPV and PSCh are clearly part of the periventricular zone of the hypothalamus. The AVPV has also been included in a region called the "nucleus preopticus, pars suprachiasmatica" (König and Klippel, 1963), and in a region termed the "AV3V" region, which is defined functionally on the basis of its involvement in the regulation of fluid and electrolyte metabolism (Saper and Levisohn, 1983;Lind et al, 1990;Saper and Stornetta, 2014).…”

“…4). Superimposed on the limbic inputs are afferents from a welldefined set of brainstem nuclei, some of which relay visceral sensory information (see Saper and Stornetta, 2014). A notable feature of nuclei in the medial zone is that they share strong bi-directional connections with most limbic and brainstem regions that supply medial zone afferents.…”

Neural connection supporting endogenous 5-hydroxytryptamine influence on autonomic activity in medial prefrontal cortex

“…In addition, mPFC is actively involved in autonomic regulation, as is evidenced by the decreased gastric motility, hypotension and bradycardia following stimulation of the prelimbic (PrL) and infralimbic cortices (IL) (Hurley-Gius and Neafsey, 1986;Heidbreder and Groenewegen, 2003;Sevoz-Couche et al, 2006;Hassan et al, 2013), the two important subdivisions of mPFC. Previous studies indicated that this autonomic effect might be mediated through divergent pathways including mPFC projections to brain stem dorsal vagal complex (DVC), which is composed of nucleus of solitary tract (Sol), the dorsal motor nucleus of vagus (DMV) and area postrema, either directly or indirectly via relay of such structures as amygdala and hypothalamus (Saper, 2004;Gabbott et al, 2005;Sevoz-Couche et al, 2006;Mussa and Verberne, 2013). Thus, DVC plays a pivotal role in mediating descending control of autonomic activities.…”