Apneic response to fentanyl in adult rats: Role of laryngeal afferents

Abstract Intravenous (systemic) bolus injection of fentanyl (FNT) reportedly induces an immediate vagal‐mediated apnea; however, the precise origin of vagal afferents responsible for this apnea remains unknown. We tested whether intralaryngeal (local) application of FNT would also trigger an apnea and whether the apneic response to both local and systemic administration of FNT was laryngeal afferent‐mediated. Cardiorespiratory responses to FNT were recorded in anesthetized male adult rats with and without bilateral sectioning of the superior laryngeal nerve (SLNx) or peri‐SLN capsaicin treatment (SLNcap) to block local C‐fiber signal conduction. Opioid mu‐receptor (MOR)‐immunoreactivity was detected in laryngeal C‐ and myelinated neurons. We found that local and systemic administration of FNT elicited an immediate apnea. SLNx, rather than SLNcap, abolished the apneic response to local FNT application though MORs were abundantly expressed in both laryngeal C‐ and myelinated neurons. Importantly, SLNx failed to affect the apneic response to systemic FNT administration. These results lead to the conclusion that laryngeal afferents' MORs are responsible for the apneic response to local, but not systemic, administration of FNT.