Newlands Shawn D, Vrabec Jeffrey T, Purcell Ian M, Stewart C Matthew, Zimmerman Brett E, Perachio Adrian A
Department of Otolaryngology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555, USA.
J Comp Neurol. 2003 Nov 3;466(1):31-47. doi: 10.1002/cne.10876.
The central projections of the utricular and saccular nerve in macaques were examined using transganglionic labeling of vestibular afferent neurons. In these experiments, biotinylated dextran amine was injected directly into the saccular or utricular neuroepithelium of fascicularis (Macaca fascicularis) or rhesus (Macaca mulatta) monkeys. Two to 5 weeks later, the animals were killed and the peripheral vestibular sensory organs, brainstem, and cerebellum were collected for analysis. The principal brainstem areas of saccular nerve termination were lateral, particularly the spinal vestibular nucleus, the lateral portion of the superior vestibular nucleus, ventral nucleus y, the external cuneate nucleus, and cell group l. The principal cerebellar projection was to the uvula with a less dense projection to the nodulus. Principle brainstem areas of termination of the utricular nerve were the lateral/dorsal medial vestibular nucleus, ventral and lateral portions of the superior vestibular nucleus, and rostral portion of the spinal vestibular nucleus. In the cerebellum, a strong projection was observed to the nodulus and weak projections were present in the flocculus, ventral paraflocculus, bilateral fastigial nuclei, and uvula. Although there is extensive overlap of saccular and utricular projections, saccular inputs to the lateral portions of the vestibular nuclear complex suggest that saccular afferents contribute to the vestibulospinal system. In contrast, the utricular nerve projects more rostrally into areas of known concentration of vestibulo-ocular related cells. Although sparse, the projections of the utricle to the flocculus/ventral paraflocculus suggest a potential convergence with floccular projection inputs from the vestibular brainstem that have been implicated in vestibulo-ocular motor learning.
利用前庭传入神经元的跨神经节标记法，研究了猕猴椭圆囊和球囊神经的中枢投射。在这些实验中，将生物素化葡聚糖胺直接注射到束状猕猴（食蟹猴）或恒河猴（猕猴）的球囊或椭圆囊神经上皮中。2至5周后，处死动物并收集外周前庭感觉器官、脑干和小脑进行分析。球囊神经终末的主要脑干区域位于外侧，特别是脊髓前庭核、前庭上核外侧部、y腹核、楔外核和细胞群l。小脑的主要投射是到蚓垂，投射到小结的密度较低。椭圆囊神经终末的主要脑干区域是外侧/背内侧前庭核、前庭上核的腹侧和外侧部分以及脊髓前庭核的 Rostral 部分。在小脑中，观察到向小结有强烈投射，在绒球、腹侧旁绒球、双侧顶核和蚓垂中有较弱投射。尽管椭圆囊和球囊投射有广泛重叠，但球囊向前庭核复合体外侧部分的输入表明球囊传入纤维对前庭脊髓系统有贡献。相比之下，椭圆囊神经向更靠前的、已知与前庭眼相关细胞集中的区域投射。尽管稀疏，但椭圆囊向绒球/腹侧旁绒球的投射表明其可能与来自前庭脑干的绒球投射输入汇聚，而这些输入与前庭眼运动学习有关。
