Somatic and sympathetic tones fluctuate together seamlessly across daily behaviors. In this issue of Cell, Zhang et al. describe populations of spinal projecting neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla (rVMM) that harmonize somatic motor function and sympathetic activation. The coordinated regulation plays a vital role in supporting behaviors a...
Previous studies indicate that CNS administration of oxytocin (OT) reduces body weight in high fat diet-induced obese (DIO) rodents by reducing food intake and increasing energy expenditure (EE). We recently demonstrated that hindbrain (fourth ventricular [4V]) administration of OT elicits weight loss and elevates interscapular brown adipose tissue...
Acknowledgements: We thank Dr Serge Luquet, Giuseppe Gangarossa, Nicolas Thiebaud and Claire Martin for their advice and helpful discussions. The help of Zahra Boudra is also acknowledged. We thank the technical platform Functional and Physiological Exploration platform (FPE) of the Université Paris CIté (BFA-UMR 8251), the animal core facility Buf...
Cardiac function is tightly regulated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Activation of the sympathetic nervous system increases cardiac output by increasing heart rate and stroke volume, while parasympathetic nerve stimulation instantly slows heart rate. Importantly, imbalance in autonomic control of the heart has been implicated in the develop...
Sympathetic activation during cold exposure increases adipocyte thermogenesis via the expression of mitochondrial protein uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1)1. The propensity of adipocytes to express UCP1 is under a critical influence of the adipose microenvironment and varies between sexes and among various fat depots2-7. Here we report that mammary gland...
We investigated whether parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responses to social-evaluative threat at age 14 were related to the number of substances used between ages 14 and 16 among Mexican-origin adolescents (N = 243; 70.4% had never used substances by 14). Participants completed the Trier Social Stress Test, while cardiac measur...
All living organisms have the innate need to interact with their environment in order to ensure their survival and reproductive success. Among vertebrates, the somatomotor system plays a critical role in responding to environmental challenges and opportunities by coordinating the movements of the body through the activation of its primary effector ...
Unlike males, naturally menstruating females undergo a distinct hormonal monthly cycle, in which hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) sex hormones undergo drastic concentration changes across a single menstrual cycle. Furthermore, major regions of the brain are packed with receptors for both HPG and stress hormones. For these reasons, both HPG and ...
IntroductionCerebral vasospasm is a complex disease resulting in reversible narrowing of blood vessels, stroke, and poor patient outcomes. Sympathetic perivascular nerve fibers originate from the superior cervical ganglion (SCG) to innervate the cerebral vasculature, with activation resulting in vasoconstriction. Sympathetic pathways are thought to...
Parental socialization may influence the development of children's autonomic nervous system (ANS), a key stress-response system. However, to date no quantitative synthesis of the literature linking parenting and child ANS physiology has been conducted. To address this gap, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis. A systematic review of the lite...
