# Multisensory Integration Producing Nausea and Vomiting

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2022 · $375,954

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract:
For decades, it has been assumed that despite the triggering stimulus, the same brainstem areas are responsible
for producing nausea and emesis. However, our recent preliminary studies suggested that nausea and vomiting
are complex conditions that include a variety of physiological responses that vary between individuals, and in
accordance with the triggering stimulus. This grant uses synergistic approaches to characterize the divergence,
convergence, and multisensory integration by brainstem neurons of vestibular and other signals that can produce
emesis. Specific Aim 1 includes the first comprehensive comparison of the brainstem pathways that participate
in generating nausea and emesis following the intragastric infusion of copper sulfate or presentation of vestibular
stimuli to induce motion sickness. By utilizing an innovative statistical approach that we recently developed, we
will identify the neural networks that are activated by these stimuli from Fos labeling patterns. We hypothesize
that different brainstem networks are engaged in animals that exhibit objective changes in stomach myoelectric
activity indicative of nausea following stimulation of vestibular versus gastrointestinal receptors. Specific Aims 2
and 3 respectively use neurophysiologic techniques to characterize the integration of emetic inputs by
parabrachial nucleus (PBN) neurons that transmit these signals to supratentorial brain areas, and by
parasympathetic preganglionic neurons (PPGNs) in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV) and near-by
nucleus ambiguus that transmit the signals to peripheral effectors. Aim 3 will also compare the responses of
PPGNs to those of neurons in two adjacent areas that play a key role in integrating these signals: nucleus tractus
solitarii (NTS) and the lateral tegmental field (LTF), which comprises the brainstem “vomiting center.” Aim 3
incorporates the first characterization of responses to vestibular stimulation of PPGNs; although these neurons
coordinate the changes in gastrointestinal activity during vomiting, virtually nothing is known about modifications
in their firing rate elicited by emetic stimuli. By contrasting the integration of inputs from vestibular and
gastrointestinal afferents in these key groups of brainstem neurons (PPGNs and those in PBN, NTS, and LTF),
we can test our overall hypothesis that signals that elicit vomiting are processed independently in the brainstem,
and only converge on neurons that directly control emetic responses. Understanding how vestibular and
gastrointestinal signals are transformed in brainstem emetic pathways is key to generating insights into new
treatments for nausea and vomiting. At the conclusion of the proposed studies, we will have identified brainstem
networks that mediate nausea and vomiting, the influences of nausea-related and emetic signals on the activity
of neurons in those networks, and their differential and/or synergistic responsiveness to vestibula...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10406913
- **Project number:** 5R01DC018229-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Carey David Balaban
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $375,954
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10406913

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10406913, Multisensory Integration Producing Nausea and Vomiting (5R01DC018229-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10406913. Licensed CC0.

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