Somatosensory systems and the milk-ejection reflex in the rat. II. The effects of lesions in the ventroposterior thalamic complex, dorsal columns and lateral cervical nucleus-dorsolateral funiculus.

Bilateral electrolytic lesions of some somatosensory structures in the thalamus and spinal cord were made in order to assess their participation in the afferent limb of the milk-ejection reflex in the rat. Lesions involving the lateral cervical nucleus and a part of the dorsolateral funiculus region blocked the milk-ejection reflex, whereas animals with lesions in the dorsal column of the spinal cord or in the ventroposterior complex of the thalamus displayed milk-ejection reflexes similar to those of control animals. Unilateral injections of horseradish peroxidase coupled to wheat germ agglutinin were made after lesioning the lateral cervical nucleus and part of the dorsolateral funiculus. Anterograde labelling was seen mainly contralateral to the injection site: in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus, the intercollicular zone, the brachium of the inferior colliculus, the lateral reticular nucleus of the thalamus and in the thalamic ventroposterior complex. Sparse projections ipsilateral to the injection site were also observed. These results, combined with our previous observations, suggest that the projection of the lateral cervical nucleus on the mesencephalon is part of the pathway which conveys the sensory information from the suckling stimulus.