The MePD is important for higher-level, supramedullary control of cardiovascular functions (6-8), and, in this sense, sends projections to the central
amygdaloid nucleus (CeA) and then to the A1 noradrenergic cells of the caudal ventrolateral medulla and the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS; 9,10).
As well as being interrelated to vegetative activity and motor coordination of talking and deglution, it has also been attributed with regulating blood-pressure, controlling visceral pain, thermal regulation and motivational-affective responses to pain due to its connections with the solitary nucleus, raphe magnus, parabrachial area and
amygdaloid nucleus (trigeminal-parabrachial-amygdaloid ipsilateral tract) with its usual visceral, nutritional (anorexia), respiratory, thermal and inhibitory descending pain effects (Caous et al.; Armstrong & Holpkins; Jasmin et al., 1997; Paues et al., 2006; Rybka & McCulloch, 2006).