Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jan 30.
Published in final edited form as: N Engl J Med. 2009 Aug 20;361(8):795–805. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra0803836

Figure 3. The Serotonergic System and Possible Effects on Homeostatic Function.

Figure 3

The serotonergic system is considered to be critical for the modulation and integration of diverse homeostatic functions. The medullary level of the brain stem (black line in Panel A) includes regions involved in the regulation of upper-airway control, respiration, temperature, autonomic function, and the sympathetic nervous system. In the medulla of an infant with the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), tissue autoradiography that was performed with the use of a specific radioligand shows a generalized reduction in binding to the 5-hydroxytryptamine type 1A receptor (Panel B), as compared with that in a control infant at the same postconceptional age (Panel C). ARC denotes arcuate nucleus, DMX dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve, GC ganglion cells, HG hypoglossal nucleus, NA noradrenaline, NTS nucleus tractus solitarius, PGCL paragigantocellularis lateralis, PreBot pre-Bötzinger complexes, and ROb raphe obscurus. Modified from a figure in Paterson et al.34