Responses in the rostral medulla to electrical stimulation of an intranasal trigeminal nerve: Convergence of oral and nasal inputs

Abstract

Projections of trigeminal afferents from the intranasal ethmoid nerve were examined in the area of trigeminal nucleus oralis. Electrical stimulation of the ethmoid nerve yielded two clusters of responses. In ventral nucleus oralis and the adjacent reticular formation responses were recorded as might be expected from an ophthalmic projection. However, a more dorsal projection was also found in the midst of oral cavity responses (taste and tactile), including some neurons responding to afferents of both intranasal and oral cavity origin.