Innervation of the Nose and Nasal Region of the Rat: Implications for Initiating the Mammalian Diving Response

Most terrestrial animals demonstrate an autonomic reflex that facilitates survival during prolonged submersion under water. This diving response is characterized by bradycardia, apnea and selective increases in peripheral vascular resistance. Stimulation of the nose and nasal passages is thought to be primarily responsible for providing the sensory afferent signals initiating this protective reflex. Consequently, the primary objective of this research was to determine the central terminal projections of nerves innervating the external nose, nasal vestibule and nasal passages of rats. We injected wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) into specific external nasal locations, into the internal nasal passages of rats both with and without intact anterior ethmoidal nerves (AENs), and directly into trigeminal nerves innervating the nose and nasal region. The central terminations of these projections within the medulla were then precisely mapped. Results indicate that the internal nasal branch of the AEN and the nasopalatine nerve, but not the infraorbital nerve (ION), provide primary innervation of the internal nasal passages. The results also suggest afferent fibers from the internal nasal passages, but not external nasal region, project to the medullary dorsal horn (MDH) in an appropriate anatomical way to cause the activation of secondary neurons within the ventral MDH that express Fos protein during diving. We conclude that innervation of the anterior nasal passages by the AEN and nasopalatine nerve is likely to provide the afferent information responsible for the activation of secondary neurons within MDH during voluntary diving in rats.