The solitary tract nucleus (NTS) is the central site of afferent termination of the IXth and Xth cranial nerves. Information arrives in the NTS via the solitary tract and is subsequently broadcast to other brain regions including the amygdala. Little is known about the organization and processing of such information by forebrain projecting NTS neurons that likely contribute to complex behaviors. We aimed to determine if cranial visceral afferents contact amygdala projecting NTS neurons directly or indirectly using retrograde tracing and electrophysiological techniques. Sprague-Dawley rats were anaesthetized (ketamine 60 mg/kg, xylazene 6 mg/kg, acepromazine 1 mg/kg; i.p.) for a stereotaxic procedure in which rhodamine beads (100 nl) were injected into the central nucleus of the amygdala. Anaesthesia level was monitored by foot pinch and corneal reflex tests throughout surgery. After 2 – 4 weeks animals were deeply anesthetized (5% isoflurane by inhalation) and horizontal brainstem slices (250 μm) containing both the NTS and solitary tract were taken. Retrogradely labeled cell bodies were found distributed throughout the caudal NTS and were targeted for whole cell recordings. Shocks to the solitary tract evoked glutamate mediated EPSCs in the labeled neurons. Each neuron was characterized by detailed stimulus-recruitment curves – where the latency, magnitude and kinetics of evoked postsynaptic currents were related to shock intensity. Some amygdala projecting NTS neurons exhibited constant latency solitary tract-evoked EPSCs that rarely failed and exhibited frequency dependent depression to a train of shocks. These characteristics are consistent with direct afferent contacts (via the solitary tract) onto labeled NTS neurons and similar to most cells within the NTS if surveyed randomly. The majority of labeled neurons exhibited multiple glutamatergic EPSCs and GABAergic IPSCs with highly variable latencies and frequent failures – findings consistent with polysynaptic pathways from the solitary tract to these amygdala projecting NTS neurons. These preliminary data demonstrate that amygdala projecting NTS neurons mostly receive information from cranial visceral afferent nerves indirectly. This suggests information from the solitary tract may be subject to varying levels of integration within the NTS before being forwarded to the amygdala.