Spinal branching of rubrospinal axons in the cat.

The branching patterns of rubrospinal (RS) axons projecting to the cervical spinal cord between C3 and C8 were studied in the cat. RS neurons were identified by their antidromic responses to microstimulation of local axon branches within the cervical gray matter. Twenty-six of 58 RS neurons projecting to the cervical gray matter also sent axon branches to the thoracic spinal cord. Two out of 40 of these RS neurons also sent axon branches to the lumbar spinal cord. Using a collision technique, it was demonstrated that stem axons of rubrospinal neurons commonly sent multiple collaterals to different cervical segments. Neurons projecting to the cervical spinal cord alone were located in the dorsal quadrants of the red nucleus. Those projecting to cervical, as well as to more caudal segments, were intermingled with the former, and in slightly more ventral portions of the red nucleus. The presence of RS neurons projecting to widely separate levels of the spinal cord suggests that individual RS neurons may be capable of ultimately influencing two or more different motoneuron pools.