Dr. Hyung-tae Kim, director of Yeson Voice Center, has presented his research paper revealing the causes of spasmodic dysphonia in the Acta Oto-Laryngologica, one of the greatest international journals for otolaryngology and head & neck surgery.
This article is written by Dr. Hyung-tae Kim as chief author based on his researches while working at the Catholic University of Korea St. Mary's Hospital, and was introduced in 2005 after a screening process.
Document title
Neuroimmunological activation of the afferent laryngeal
neuronal circuit in experimentally induced laryngeal inflammation.
Journal title
Acta Oto-laryngologica, 2005; 125: 184-190
Abstract
Conclusions: These results show that laryngeal inflammatory reactions may induce the
expression of proinflammatory cytokines along the afferent laryngeal circuit and in nuclei
associated with the HPA axis. Local laryngeal inflammation may induce functional and
physiologic alterations in the laryngeal neural system via neuroimmunologic reactions.
Objective: Idiopathic laryngeal disorders associated with various neurologic conditions
such as spasmodic dysphonia, idiopathic vocal fold paralysis and sudden infant death
syndrome are causally related to upper respiratory tract infections, and it can be
speculated that these disorders result in neurophysiologic alterations. The goal of this
study was to identify the neurophysiologic effect on the central nervous system
of local inflammatory alterations in the larynx.
Material and methods: The expression of c-fos and IL-1β was identified after injecting
saline solution, 10 μg of lipopolysaccharide or 100 μg of lipopolysaccharide into the larynx of 12 rats.
Results: The inflammatory cytokine IL-1β was mainly expressed in the inferior olivary
nucleus and raphe nucleus, which are associated with the hypothalamic-pituitary-
adrenal (HPA) axis. IL-1β expression was also found in the nuclei of afferent nervous
pathways of the superior laryngeal nerve, such as the nucleus tractus solitarius,
nucleus ambiguus, lateral reticular nucleus, magnocellular reticular nucleus
and paragigantocellular reticular nucleus.
Keywords:
C-fos, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, IL-1β, laryngeal neural pathways, laryngeal
reflex, larynx, nucleus tractus solitarius, proinflammatory cytokine
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