Newman H M, Stevens R T, Apkarian A V
Department of Neurosurgery, State University of New York Health Science Center, Syracuse 13210, USA.
J Comp Neurol. 1996 Feb 19;365(4):640-58. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9861(19960219)365:4<640::AID-CNE10>3.0.CO;2-L.
With the anterograde tracers Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) and biotinylated dextranamine (BD), direct spinal connections from the upper cervical spinal cord (UC; C1 and C2) and the cervical enlargement (CE; C5-T1) were demonstrated in various striatal and limbic nuclei in both squirrel monkey and rat. Within each species and from each spinal level, the total number of terminals seen in the limbic and striatal areas was approximately 50-80% of the number seen within the thalamus. Labeled terminal structures were seen in the hypothalamic nuclei, ventral striatum, globus pallidus, amygdala, preoptic area, and septal nuclei. In both species, the number of labeled terminals in limbic and striatal regions was larger from UC than from CE, although the distributions to each nucleus varied with the specific lamina injected. In both species and from both UC and CE, approximately one-half of the projections to striatal and limbic areas terminated in the hypothalamus. The only region that demonstrated a topographical organization was the globus pallidus, where terminals from the CE were located dorsomedially to those from the UC. In the rat, UC and CE injections into the lateral dorsal horn and pericentral laminae resulted in the largest number of limbic and striatal terminations. The proportion of ipsilateral terminations was greatest when the medial laminae in the UC or the lateral dorsal horn in the CE received injections. Analysis of the morphology of these spinohypothalamic and spinotelencephalic terminals showed that, in the squirrel monkey, terminals from CE injections were larger than terminals from UC injections; no such size difference was evident in the rat. However, limbic and striatal terminals in the rat were generally larger than those in the squirrel monkey following injections into the UC or CE. The exact function of these direct spinal projections to various striatal and limbic areas in primates and in rodents remains to be determined. These findings, however, support recent imaging studies that suggest that the limbic system plays an important role in the mediation of chest pain, perhaps directly through these spinolimbic and spinostriatal pathways.
使用顺行示踪剂菜豆凝集素（PHA-L）和生物素化葡聚糖胺（BD），在松鼠猴和大鼠的各种纹状体和边缘核中证实了来自颈上脊髓（UC；C1和C2）和颈膨大（CE；C5-T1）的直接脊髓连接。在每个物种内以及从每个脊髓水平来看，在边缘和纹状体区域中看到的终末总数约为丘脑内所见数量的50-80%。在下丘脑核、腹侧纹状体、苍白球、杏仁核、视前区和隔核中可见标记的终末结构。在这两个物种中，来自UC的边缘和纹状体区域的标记终末数量比来自CE的多，尽管向每个核的分布因注射的特定板层而异。在这两个物种中，从UC和CE发出的投射到纹状体和边缘区域的约一半终末终止于下丘脑。唯一显示出拓扑组织的区域是苍白球，其中来自CE的终末位于来自UC的终末的背内侧。在大鼠中，向外侧背角和中央周围板层注射UC和CE导致边缘和纹状体终末数量最多。当UC的内侧板层或CE的外侧背角接受注射时，同侧终末的比例最大。对这些脊髓下丘脑和脊髓终脑终末的形态分析表明，在松鼠猴中，来自CE注射的终末比来自UC注射的终末大；在大鼠中没有明显的这种大小差异。然而，在向UC或CE注射后，大鼠的边缘和纹状体终末通常比松鼠猴的大。这些直接脊髓投射到灵长类动物和啮齿动物的各种纹状体和边缘区域的确切功能仍有待确定。然而，这些发现支持了最近的影像学研究，这些研究表明边缘系统在胸痛的介导中起重要作用，可能直接通过这些脊髓边缘和脊髓纹状体通路。
