School of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
J Comp Neurol. 2019 Oct 15;527(15):2440-2473. doi: 10.1002/cne.24721. Epub 2019 Jun 13.
The brainstem (midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata) and cerebellum (diencephalic prosomere 1 through to rhombomere 11) play central roles in the processing of sensorimotor information, autonomic activity, levels of awareness and the control of functions external to the conscious cognitive world of mammals. As such, comparative analyses of these structures, especially the understanding of specializations or reductions of structures with functions that have been elucidated in commonly studied mammalian species, can provide crucial information for our understanding of the behavior of less commonly studied species, like pangolins. In the broadest sense, the nuclear complexes and subdivisions of nuclear complexes, the topographical arrangement, the neuronal chemistry, and fiber pathways of the tree pangolin conform to that typically observed across more commonly studied mammalian species. Despite this, variations in regions associated with the locus coeruleus complex, auditory system, and motor, neuromodulatory and autonomic systems involved in feeding, were observed in the current study. While we have previously detailed the unusual locus coeruleus complex of the tree pangolin, the superior olivary nuclear complex of the auditory system, while not exhibiting additional nuclei or having an altered organization, this nuclear complex, particularly the lateral superior olivary nucleus and nucleus of the trapezoid body, shows architectonic refinement. The cephalic decussation of the pyramidal tract, an enlarged hypoglossal nucleus, an additional subdivision of the serotonergic raphe obscurus nucleus, and the expansion of the superior salivatory nucleus, all indicate neuronal specializations related to the myrmecophagous diet of the pangolins.
脑桥（中脑、脑桥和延髓）和小脑（后脑原节 1 到菱脑节 11）在处理感觉运动信息、自主活动、意识水平和控制哺乳动物外部意识认知世界的功能方面发挥着核心作用。因此，对这些结构的比较分析，特别是对那些在常见研究的哺乳动物物种中已经阐明的功能的结构的专门化或减少的理解，可以为我们理解研究较少的物种（如穿山甲）的行为提供关键信息。从最广泛的意义上说，穿山甲的核复合物和核复合物的细分、拓扑排列、神经元化学和纤维通路与更常见研究的哺乳动物物种中观察到的典型情况相符。尽管如此，在与蓝斑复合体、听觉系统以及参与进食的运动、神经调制和自主系统相关的区域中观察到了变异。虽然我们之前详细描述了树穿山甲不寻常的蓝斑复合体和听觉系统的上橄榄核复合体，但尽管没有额外的核或改变的组织，这个核复合体，特别是外侧上橄榄核和梯形体核，表现出了结构上的细化。锥体束的颅端交叉、增大的舌下神经核、5-羟色胺能中缝 obscurus 核的额外细分以及上涎核的扩展，都表明与穿山甲食蚁有关的神经元专门化。
