Advantages of burst stimulation for inducing sympathetic salivary secretion in rats.

Electrical stimulation of the cervical sympathetic nerve trunk delivered at 50 Hz in bursts of 1 s every 10 s, evoked a more copious, uniform and reproducible flow of saliva than when delivered at 10 Hz continuously. This advantage of burst stimulation occurred with parotid secretion and was especially evident with secretion from submandibular glands, where the oedema, commonly seen after stimulating the sympathetic nerve continuously, was avoided. Therefore stimulation in bursts is recommended for obtaining sympathetic salivary responses in rats.