Substance P innervation of the rat and cat thalamus. I. Distribution and relation to ascending spinal pathways.

An antiserum for substance P (SP) with minimal cross-reactivity for other tachykinins was employed to map the distribution of SP-positive nerve fibers and terminals in the thalamus of cats and rats with special emphasis on the innervation by these fibers of nuclei related to the somatosensory system. In both species SP innervation is predominantly along the midline, in medial and posterior thalamic regions, and sparser in sensory relays for specific modalities. Among the most densely innervated nuclei are the parafascicular, paraventricular, rhomboid, central medial and parts of mediodorsal, lateral posterior, and ventral lateral geniculate. SP innervation of somatosensory-related nuclei is also evident in central lateral nucleus, posterior complex (PO), and in ventroposterolateral (VPL) nucleus of both cats and rats. In VPL of cats SP fibers and terminals are present along its ventral and lateral border, a paralaminar area in which spinothalamic fibers have been shown to terminate and where neurons responsive to noxious stimuli have been reported. Also in rats the SP innervation of VPL is similar to that of spinothalamic tract fibers. The SP innervation of somatosensory thalamic nuclei may be supplied, at least in part, by spinothalamic afferent as suggested by the depletion of SP after anterolateral chordotomy but not after ablation of the dorsal column nuclei. The presence of SP-positive spinothalamic neurons in the spinal cord is reported in the following paper.