ABSTRACT
Vagal afferents provide the central nervous system with the information required to initiate gastrointestinal reflexes, but they do not organize these responses in isolation. Examined individually, neither the nucleus tractus solitarii (NST) nor the dmnX appears to be organized into tightly partitioned subnuclei with distinctly different neuronal populations. The NST is the central relay nucleus for first-order parasympathetic sensory inputs from most of the gastrointestinal tract. Finally, and by way of brief summary, a last set of extensions, or areas in which extensions are needed, concerns different levels of organization and the need to develop a more comprehensive understanding of alimentary reflexes. The authors have proposed that the vagal trigone with its lattice organization contains the basic architecture or warp and woof responsible for organizing individual gastrointestinal reflexes. Although little certitude yet exists concerning even the precise categories needed, most investigators would probably accept the idea that individual gastrointestinal reflexes are normally organized into different classes of coordinated reflexes.
