Organization of the newborn piglets vagal motor complex: insights into integrated autonomic control mechanisms

Pediatric disorders frequently exhibit dysregulation of sympatho-vagal activity, and impaired control of cardiovascular vagal networks. Factors influencing the maturation of vagal networks are of special interest because they normally protect the heart and circulation, facilitate digestion, and preserve visceral metabolism. At present, scant literature exists regarding the development of vagal innervation of the heart. This study in neonatal swine, Sus scrofa, mapped the normal anatomy of vagal motor cell groups, with special focus on the origins of cardiomotor neurons. Right cardiac nerve branches, or the right thoracic vagal trunk were resected, inserted into capillary glass vials filled with 2% FluoroGold (FG) tracer solutions, and sealed to prevent leakage (false positives). Dorsal and ventral vagal complexes were identified on cross-sectioned tissues incubated in a well-characterized specific FG antibody. Thoracic and abdominal vagal motoneurons were cytologically heterogeneous, and predominantly medium-sized, polygonal cell bodies. Discrete longitudinal cell columns were observed, as well as organized arrays of elongate spindle-shaped cells in formation. Long axes and dendrites appeared to orient toward incoming peripheral sensory and central afferents, and were juxtaposed to cerebral microvasculature. The pigletsʹ dorsal vagal complex is: (i) thick and long, comparable to ruminants, in contrast to much shorter lengths in non-ruminants, and (ii) the chief source of vagal motoneurons, forming discrete, topographically organized parasympathetic cell groups with distinct dendritic arbors. The cardiac motor subnucleus is localized to a highly restricted areal subunit of nucleus ambiguusʹ external formation in the vicinity of the obex. On the other hand, dorsal cardiac vagal motoneurons were few in number and diffusely distributed. Dorsal vagal motoneurons of neonatal swine likely projected primarily to the enteric nervous system, exerting excitatory influence over gastrointestinal activity.