Paradoxical actions of the No donor Sin-i on single laryngeal motoneurons in the nucleus ambiguus

In order to study the pharmacological action of the NO donor SIN-I upon laryngeal motoneurons, we focally iontophoresed SIN-I onto single motoneurons identified by antidromic stimulation of the recurrent nerve. SIN-I produced opposing effects on motoneuron activities. Of 34 identified motoneurone, 38.2% showed a statistically significant decrease (decreasing group), while 29.4% showed an increase in their antidromic, response to SIN-I application (increasing group), respectively. The remaining neurons did not show any change (no change group). When the antidromic spike amplitude during the precontrol period was compared between the three groups, both the increasing and decreasing groups exhibited larger antidromic spikes than those measured in the no change group. The results are discussed in terms of dual pharmacological actions of NO.