Location of motoneurons supplying the intrinsic laryngeal muscles of rats. Horseradish peroxidase and fluorescence double-labeling study.

This paper describes a qualitative and quantitative investigation of the location of the motoneurons innervating the intrinsic laryngeal muscles of rats. Injections of horseradish peroxidase, Diamidino Yellow and True Blue were made either in one or, simultaneously, in three laryngeal muscles. Unlike those in cats and rabbits, the motoneurons that make up the nucleus ambiguus (NA) in rats are not arranged in two separate subgroups, that is one belonging to the cricothyroid (CT) motoneurons and the other to the rest of the intrinsic laryngeal motoneurons. Instead, a superimposition of CT and posterior cricoarytenoid (PCA) motoneurons was observed in the rostral third of the NA. Motoneurons innervating the PCA, thyroarytenoid (TA) and lateral cricoarytenoid (LCA) muscle overlap in the medial third of the NA. Finally, in the region of the NA caudal to the obex, the TA and LCA motoneurons also overlap. Labeled motoneurons were located in the ipsilateral side to the injected muscle in all cases.