Visceral-related area in the rat insular cortex

Electrical activity in rat cortico-limbic structures after single or repeated administration of lipopolysaccharide or staphylococcal enterotoxin B

“…Deep-brain electrode implantation and neural recordings were performed as described previously [41,49] [42,44,50]. Lateralization was controlled by equally distributing left and right hemispheres across the groups.…”

“…We employed a wireless recording method, allowing unrestricted animal behaviour, minimizing stress artefacts and providing in our hands reliable electrophysiological data [41]. The study focused on the Am and IC since these structures have previously been shown to be involved in immune-visceral inputs, independently of the afferent route involved [36,[42][43][44], and because lesion experiments documented the relevance of these two structures during processing immune signals employed as unconditioned stimuli [45][46][47]. Furthermore, in independent experiments, changes in body temperature and circulating cytokine profiles were monitored to further evaluate the immune reactivity under the various experimental conditions.…”

The Effects of Glutamate NMDA Receptor Antagonist MK-801 on Gastrointestinal Motility after Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Rats

“…The insular cortex is divided into three cytoarchitectonic areas according to functions: a rostroventral agranular insula relating to olfactory and autonomic functions, an intermediate dysgranular insula relating to gustatory functions, and a caudodorsal granular insula relating to somatosensory, auditory and visual functions [19,20]. Stimulation of the anterior insular cortex has been shown to produce gastric motor responses in animal studies [7,21]. These reports indicate that the insular cortex plays a major role in control of gastrointestinal motility as well as cardiovascular function.…”

“…The dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV) supplies parasympathetic motor preganglionic fibers to the viscera. A group of neurons located in the insular cortex projects directly to the specific gastric portion of the dorsal vagal complex in rats [7]. Electrical stimulation to the insular cortex produces changes in autonomic functions and gastrointestinal motility [8].…”

The Insular Cortex and the Amygdala: Shared Functions and Interactions

“…Although a clear map of the viscerosensory area of the IC is still missing, areas within both the dysgranular and granular cortices have been identified as viscerosensory responsive [3,10,19,[92][93][94]. In Cechetto and Saper (1987) [3], a viscerosensory area within the Insular cortex was reported while exploring from 2.0 mm anterior to 0.5 mm posterior to the crossing of the anterior commissure (around the bregma) in rats.…”