Liang Huazheng, Bácskai Timea, Watson Charles, Paxinos George
Neuroscience Research Australia, Cnr Barker Street and Hospital Road, Randwick, NSW, 2031, Australia.
Brain Struct Funct. 2014 May;219(3):805-15. doi: 10.1007/s00429-013-0536-4. Epub 2013 Mar 16.
The present study investigated the projections from the lateral vestibular nucleus (LVe) to the spinal cord using retrograde and anterograde tracers. Retrogradely labeled neurons were found after fluoro-gold injections into both the cervical and lumbar cord, with a smaller number of labeled neurons seen after lumbar cord injections. Labeled neurons in the LVe were found in clusters at caudal levels of the nucleus, and a small gap separated these clusters from labeled neurons in the spinal vestibular nucleus (SpVe). In the anterograde study, BDA-labeled fiber tracts were found in both the ventral and ventrolateral funiculi on the ipsilateral side. These fibers terminated in laminae 6-9. Some fibers were continuous with boutons in contact with motor neurons in both the medial and lateral motor neuron columns. In the lumbar and sacral segments, some collaterals from the ipsilateral vestibulospinal tracts were found on the contralateral side, and these fibers mainly terminated in laminae 6-8. The present study reveals for the first time the fiber terminations of the lateral vestibular nucleus in the mouse spinal cord and therefore enhances future functional studies of the vestibulospinal system.
本研究使用逆行和顺行示踪剂研究了外侧前庭核（LVe）向脊髓的投射。将荧光金注入颈髓和腰髓后发现了逆行标记的神经元，腰髓注射后可见的标记神经元数量较少。在LVe中，标记神经元在核的尾侧水平成群出现，这些群与脊髓前庭核（SpVe）中的标记神经元之间有一小间隙。在顺行研究中，在同侧的腹侧和腹外侧索中发现了BDA标记的纤维束。这些纤维终止于第6-9层。一些纤维与内侧和外侧运动神经元柱中与运动神经元接触的终扣相连。在腰段和骶段，在对侧发现了同侧前庭脊髓束的一些侧支，这些纤维主要终止于第6-8层。本研究首次揭示了小鼠脊髓中外侧前庭核的纤维终末，因此加强了对前庭脊髓系统未来的功能研究。
