Klop E M, Mouton L J, Holstege G
Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, bldg 3215, P.O. Box 196, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands.
Neurosci Lett. 2004 Apr 29;360(3):121-4. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2004.02.045.
The spinothalamic tract, well known for its role in nociception, is the most frequently studied ascending pathway originating from the spinal cord. It is known that spinothalamic neurons are located in all segments of the spinal cord, but in most mammals the total number of spinothalamic neurons is not known. In three cats, after large wheat germ agglutinin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase injections involving all parts (one case) or almost all parts of the thalamus (two cases), the number of retrogradely labeled profiles was counted in a 1:4 series of sections of all spinal segments from C1 to Coc2. After applying the correction factor of Abercrombie (Anat. Rec. 94 (1946) 239), it appears that a total of 12,000 cells in the spinal cord project to the thalamus.
