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Abstract

It is well known that the brainstem premotor neurons of the facial nucleus and hypoglossal nucleus coordinate orofacial nociceptive reflex (ONR) responses. However, whether the brainstem PNs receive the nociceptive projection directly from the caudal spinal trigeminal nucleus is still kept unclear. Our present study focuses on the distribution of premotor neurons in the ONR pathways of rats and the collateral projection of the premotor neurons which are involved in the brainstem local pathways of the orofacial nociceptive reflexes of rat. Retrograde tracer Fluoro-gold (FG) or FG/tetramethylrhodamine-dextran amine (TMR-DA) were injected into the VII or/and XII, and anterograde tracer biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) was injected into the caudal spinal trigeminal nucleus (Vc). The tracing studies indicated that FG-labeled neurons receiving BDA-labeled fibers from the Vc were mainly distributed bilaterally in the parvicellular reticular formation (PCRt), dorsal and ventral medullary reticular formation (MdD, MdV), supratrigeminal nucleus (Vsup) and parabrachial nucleus (PBN) with an ipsilateral dominance. Some FG/TMR-DA double-labeled premotor neurons, which were observed bilaterally in the PCRt, MdD, dorsal part of the MdV, peri-motor nucleus regions, contacted with BDA-labeled axonal terminals and expressed c-fos protein-like immunoreactivity which induced by subcutaneous injection of formalin into the lip. After retrograde tracer wheat germ agglutinated horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) was injected into VII or XII and BDA into Vc, electron microscopic study revealed that some BDA-labeled axonal terminals made mainly asymmetric synapses on the dendritic and somatic profiles of WGA-HRP-labeled premotor neurons. These data indicate that some premotor neurons could integrate the orofacial nociceptive input from the Vc and transfer these signals simultaneously to different brainstem motonuclei by axonal collaterals.

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Most cited references 41

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Brainstem reflexes: electrodiagnostic techniques, physiology, normative data, and clinical applications.

Petra E W de Haas, M Aramideh (2002)

An overview is provided on the physiological aspects of the brainstem reflexes as they can be examined by use of clinically applicable neurophysiological tests. Brainstem reflex studies provide important information about the afferent and efferent pathways and are excellent physiological tools for the assessment of cranial nerve nuclei and the functional integrity of suprasegmental structures. In this review, the blink reflex after trigeminal and nontrigeminal inputs, corneal reflex, levator palpebrae inhibitory reflex, jaw jerk, masseter inhibitory reflex, and corneomandibular reflex are discussed. Following description of the recording technique, physiology, central pathways, and normative data of these reflexes, including an account of the recording of recovery curves, the application of these reflexes is reviewed in patients with various neurological abnormalities, including trigeminal pain and neuralgia, facial neuropathy, and brainstem and hemispherical lesions. Finally, simultaneous electromyographic recording from the orbicularis oculi and the levator palpebrae muscles is discussed briefly in different eyelid movement disorders. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals Inc.

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Stabilization of the tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) reaction product: application for retrograde and anterograde tracing, and combination with immunohistochemistry.

Phil D. Rye, B Wainer, Clifford B. Saper (1984)

Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) as a substrate for horseradish peroxidase (HRP) histochemistry is more sensitive than other chromogens. Its instability in aqueous solutions and ethanol, however, has limited its application. We now report a method for stabilizing TMB by incubation in combinations of diaminobenzidine (DAB)/cobalt (Co2+)/H2O2. The stabilized TMB product was unaffected by long-term exposures to ethanol, neutral buffers, and subsequent immunohistochemical staining procedures. A procedure is recommended for optimal stabilization of TMB that affords a sensitivity for demonstrating retrogradely labeled perikarya comparable to standard TMB histochemistry. The physical characteristics of the reaction product make it suitable for combination with the unlabeled antibody, peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) immunohistochemical staining procedure. This was established by staining retrogradely labeled neurons in the basal forebrain with a monoclonal antibody against choline acetyltransferase. Because the stabilized TMB product exhibited a superior sensitivity over cobalt ion intensification of the DAB-based reaction product (DAB-Co), it offers a distinct advantage over previously described combination procedures.

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Distribution of GABAergic and glycinergic premotor neurons projecting to the facial and hypoglossal nuclei in the rat.

N. Mizuno, Yuan-Yuan Li, M. B. Takada … (1997)

The distribution of inhibitory premotor neurons for the facial and hypoglossal nuclei was examined in the lower brainstem of the rat. A retrograde axonal tracing method with the fluorescent tracer, tetramethylrhodamine dextran amine (TMR-DA), was combined with immunofluorescence histochemistry for glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), i.e., the enzyme involved in gamma-aminobutyric acid synthesis, or glycine. In the rats injected with TMR-DA unilaterally into the facial or hypoglossal nucleus, the distribution of TMR-DA-labeled neurons showing GAD-like immunoreactivity (GAD/TMR-DA neurons) was essentially the same as that of TMR-DA-labeled neurons displaying glycine-like immunoreactivity (Gly/TMR-DA neurons). The distributions of GAD/TMR-DA and Gly/TMR-DA neurons in the rats injected with TMR-DA into the facial nucleus were also similar to those in the rats injected with TMR-DA into the hypoglossal nucleus. These neurons were seen most frequently in the lateral aspect of the pontine reticular formation, the supratrigeminal region, the dorsal aspect of the lateral reticular formation of the medulla oblongata, and the reticular regions around the raphe magnus nucleus and the gigantocellular reticular nucleus pars alpha, bilaterally with a slight dominance on the side ipsilateral to the injection site. A number of GAD/TMR-DA and Gly/TMR-DA neurons were also seen in the oral and interpolar subnuclei of the spinal trigeminal nucleus, bilaterally with a slight ipsilateral dominance. In the rats injected with TMR-DA into the facial nucleus, GAD/TMR-DA and Gly/TMR-DA neurons were also encountered in the paralemniscal zone of the midbrain tegmentum bilaterally with an apparent dominance on the side contralateral to the injection site. A large part of these inhibitory premotor neurons for the facial and hypoglossal nuclei and the excitatory ones may constitute premotor neuron pools common to the orofacial motor nuclei implicated in the control of integrated orofacial movements.