Verstegen Anne M J, Vanderhorst Veronique, Gray Paul A, Zeidel Mark L, Geerling Joel C
Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
Division of Endocrinology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
J Comp Neurol. 2017 Jul 1;525(10):2287-2309. doi: 10.1002/cne.24215. Epub 2017 Apr 18.
Barrington's nucleus (Bar) is thought to contain neurons that trigger voiding and thereby function as the "pontine micturition center." Lacking detailed information on this region in mice, we examined gene and protein markers to characterize Bar and the neurons surrounding it. Like rats and cats, mice have an ovoid core of medium-sized Bar neurons located medial to the locus coeruleus (LC). Bar neurons express a GFP reporter for Vglut2, develop from a Math1/Atoh1 lineage, and exhibit immunoreactivity for NeuN. Many neurons in and around this core cluster express a reporter for corticotrophin-releasing hormone (Bar ). Axons from Bar neurons project to the lumbosacral spinal cord and ramify extensively in two regions: the dorsal gray commissural and intermediolateral nuclei. Bar neurons have unexpectedly long dendrites, which may receive synaptic input from the cerebral cortex and other brain regions beyond the core afferents identified previously. Finally, at least five populations of neurons surround Bar: rostral-dorsomedial cholinergic neurons in the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus; lateral noradrenergic neurons in the LC; medial GABAergic neurons in the pontine central gray; ventromedial, small GABAergic neurons that express FoxP2; and dorsolateral glutamatergic neurons that express FoxP2 in the pLC and form a wedge dividing Bar from the dorsal LC. We discuss the implications of this new information for interpreting existing data and future experiments targeting Bar neurons and their synaptic afferents to study micturition and other pelvic functions.
巴林顿核（Bar）被认为含有触发排尿的神经元，因此作为“脑桥排尿中枢”发挥作用。由于缺乏关于小鼠该区域的详细信息，我们研究了基因和蛋白质标记物，以表征Bar及其周围的神经元。与大鼠和猫一样，小鼠在蓝斑（LC）内侧有一个卵形的中等大小Bar神经元核心。Bar神经元表达Vglut2的绿色荧光蛋白报告基因，起源于Math1/Atoh1谱系，并表现出NeuN免疫反应性。这个核心簇及其周围的许多神经元表达促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素的报告基因（Bar）。Bar神经元的轴突投射到腰骶脊髓，并在两个区域广泛分支：背侧灰质连合和中间外侧核。Bar神经元有意想不到的长树突，可能从大脑皮层和先前确定的核心传入神经之外的其他脑区接收突触输入。最后，至少有五个神经元群体围绕着Bar：外侧背盖核中的嘴侧背内侧胆碱能神经元；LC中的外侧去甲肾上腺素能神经元；脑桥中央灰质中的内侧GABA能神经元；腹内侧、表达FoxP2的小GABA能神经元；以及在pLC中表达FoxP2并形成将Bar与背侧LC分开的楔形的背外侧谷氨酸能神经元。我们讨论了这些新信息对解释现有数据以及未来针对Bar神经元及其突触传入神经以研究排尿和其他盆腔功能的实验的意义。
