In mammals, the Bötzinger complex (BötC) is a group of neurons located in the rostral ventrolateral medulla, and ventral respiratory column. In the medulla, this group is located caudally to the facial nucleus and ventral to
nucleus ambiguus
The nucleus ambiguus ("ambiguous nucleus" in English) is a group of large motor neurons, situated deep in the medullary reticular formation named by Jacob Clarke. The nucleus ambiguus contains the cell bodies of neurons that innervate the muscles ...
.
Function
The Bötzinger complex plays an important role in controlling breathing
and responding to hypoxia.
The Bötzinger complex consists primarily of glycinergic neurons
which inhibit respiratory activity. Of the respiratory cycle phases BötC generates post-inspiratory (Post-I) activity and augmenting expiratory (aug-e) activity.
Name
The Bötzinger complex was named by UCLA Professor Jack Feldman in 1978, after a bottle of white wine named
Botzinger present at his table during a scientific meeting in Hirschhorn, Germany, that year.
Connections
The Bötzinger Complex has projections to
* Phrenic pre-motor neurons in the medulla
* Phrenic motor neurons in the cervical spinal cord
* The
dorsal respiratory group
The respiratory center is located in the medulla oblongata and pons, in the brainstem. The respiratory center is made up of three major respiratory groups of neurons, two in the medulla and one in the pons. In the medulla they are the dorsal res ...
(DRG)
*
Ventral respiratory group
The respiratory center is located in the medulla oblongata and pons, in the brainstem. The respiratory center is made up of three major respiratory groups of neurons, two in the medulla and one in the pons. In the medulla they are the dorsal res ...
(VRG)
*
Pre-Bötzinger complex The preBötzinger complex, sometimes written pre-Bötzinger complex (preBötC), is a functionally and anatomically specialized site in the ventral-lateral region of the lower medulla oblongata (i.e., lower brainstem). The preBötC is part of the ven ...
* Bötzinger complex
* Parabrachial
Kolliker-Fuse nucleus
Only augmenting expiratory neurons of BötC, which are exclusively glycinergic, project to the phrenic nucleus.
Projections to the Bötzinger complex include the
nucleus tractus solitarii
In the human brainstem, the solitary nucleus, also called nucleus of the solitary tract, nucleus solitarius, and nucleus tractus solitarii, (SN or NTS) is a series of purely sensory
nuclei (clusters of nerve cell bodies) forming a vertical column ...
(NTS)
the DRG and the VRG.
Physiology
These neurons are intrinsic pacemakers.
Post-I neurons display an initial burst of activity followed by decrease in activity at the end of inspiration. Aug-E neurons begin firing during the E2 phase and end before the phrenic nerve burst.
References
{{Reflist, 30em
Brainstem
Neuroanatomy
Respiration