Neck afferents and muscle sympathetic activity in humans: implications for the vestibulosympathetic reflex

Ray, Chester A., and Keith M. Hume. Neck afferents and muscle sympathetic activity in humans: implications for the vestibulosympathetic reflex. J. Appl. Physiol. 84(2): 450–453, 1998.—We have shown previously that head-down neck flexion (HDNF) in humans elicits increases in muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA). The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of neck muscle afferents on MSNA. We studied this question by measuring MSNA before and after head rotation that would activate neck muscle afferents but not the vestibular system (i.e., no stimulation of the otolith organs or semicircular canals). After a 3-min baseline period with the head in the normal erect position, subjects rotated their head to the side (∼90°) and maintained this position for 3 min. Head rotation was performed by the subjects in both the prone ( n = 5) and sitting ( n = 6) positions. Head rotation did not elicit changes in MSNA. Average MSNA, expressed as burst frequency and total activity, was 13 ± 1 and 13 ± 1 bursts/min and 146 ± 34 and 132 ± 27 units/min during baseline and head rotation, respectively. There were no significant changes in calf blood flow (2.6 ± 0.3 to 2.5 ± 0.3 ml ⋅ 100 ml−1 ⋅ min−1; n = 8) and calf vascular resistance (39 ± 4 to 41 ± 4 units; n = 8). Heart rate (64 ± 3 to 66 ± 3 beats/min; P = 0.058) and mean arterial pressure (90 ± 3 to 93 ± 3; P < 0.05) increased slightly during head rotation. Additional neck flexion studies were performed with subjects lying on their side ( n = 5). MSNA, heart rate, and mean arterial pressure were unchanged during this maneuver, which also does not engage the vestibular system. HDNF was tested in 9 of the 13 subjects. MSNA was significantly increased by 79 ± 12% ( P < 0.001) during HDNF. These findings indicate that neck afferents activated by horizontal neck rotation or flexion in the absence of significant force development do not elicit changes in MSNA. These findings support the concept that HDNF increases MSNA by the activation of the vestibular system.

The Vestibulocollic Reflex

Stabilization of the head is required not only for adequate motor performance, such as maintaining balance while standing or walking, but also for the adequate reception of sensory inputs such as visual and auditory information. The vestibular organs, which consist of three approximately orthogonal semicircular canals (anterior, horizontal, posterior) and two otolith organs (utriculus, sacculus), provide the most important input for the detection of head movement. Activation of afferents from these receptors evokes the vestibulocollic reflex (VCR), which stabilizes bead position in space. In this review, which is the outgrowth of a session of the vestibular symposium held in Hawaii in April, 1994, we discuss the neural substrate of this reflex and some aspects of the central processing involved in its production. Some topics are not considered, in particular the important interaction between the VCR and the cervicocollic reflex evoked by activation of neck afferents (70,119), and attempts to model the reflex (69).