Reciprocal connections between substantia nigra and medullary reticular formation in the rat

Descending Projections from the Substantia Nigra and Retrorubral Field to the Medullary and Pontomedullary Reticular Formation

We have investigated the projection from the substantia nigra to the pontomedullary reticular formation in the rat using both retrograde and anterograde neuroanatomical tracers. Injections of a conjugate of wheatgerm agglutinin with horseradish peroxidase into the medullary or pontomedullary reticular formation resulted in the retrograde labelling of a continuous band of cells extending from the caudal half of the dorsolateral substantia nigra into the retrorubral field. Injections of the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris leukoagglutinin (PHA-L) into either the dorsolateral substantia nigra or the caudally adjacent retrorubral field revealed a descending projection to the lateral medullary and pontomedullary brainstem, which terminated mainly within the lateral (parvicellular) reticular formation. The anterograde PHA-L fibre labelling ran throughout the rostrocaudal extent of the parvicellular reticular formation and extended into the caudally continuous region, the medullary dorsal and medullary ventral reticular formation, where it tapered off. Also labelled, although more lightly, were the rostral and ventrolateral regions of the nucleus of the solitary tract and the magnocellular reticular formation. Electron microscopy established that the PHA-L-labelled fibres formed synaptic contacts with nerve cell bodies and dendrites in the parvicellular reticular formation. It is suggested that one role of this nigroreticular pathway might be to connect the basal ganglia with brainstem premotor neurons that influence orofacial musculature.

GABAergic and glycinergic neurons projecting to the trigeminal motor nucleus: a double labeling study in the rat

The distribution of GABAergic and glycinergic premotor neurons projecting to the trigeminal motor nucleus (Vm) was examined in the lower brainstem of the rat by a double labeling method combining retrograde axonal tracing with immunofluorescence histochemistry. After injection of the fluorescent retrograde tracer, tetramethylrhodamine dextran amine (TRDA), into the Vm unilaterally, neurons labeled with TRDA were seen ipsilaterally in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus, and bilaterally in the parabrachial region, the supratrigeminal and intertrigeminal regions, the reticular formation just medial to the Vm, the principal sensory and spinal trigeminal nuclei, the pontine and medullary reticular formation, especially the parvicellular part of the medullary reticular formation, the alpha part of the gigantocellular reticular nucleus, and the medullary raphe nuclei. Some of these neurons labeled with TRDA were found to display glutamic acid decarboxylase (the enzyme involved in GABA synthesis)-like or glycine-like immunoreactivity. Such double-labeled neurons were seen mainly in the supratrigeminal region, the reticular region adjacent to the medial border of the Vm, and the dorsal part of the lateral reticular formation of the medulla oblongata; a number of them were further scattered in the intertrigeminal region, the alpha part of the gigantocellular reticular nucleus, the nucleus raphe magnus, the principal sensory trigeminal nucleus, and the interpolar subnucleus of the spinal trigeminal nucleus. These neurons were considered to be inhibitory (GABAergic or glycinergic) neurons sending their axons to motoneurons in the Vm, or to local interneurons within and around the Vm.

Monosynaptic innervation of trigeminal motor neurones involved in mastication by neurones of the parvicellular reticular formation

In order to determine whether neurones in the parvicellular reticular formation are in direct synaptic contact with motor neurones innervating masticatory muscles, a combined retrograde and anterograde transport study was carried out in the rat at both light and electron microscopic levels. The animals received injections of the retrograde tracers wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase or cholera toxin B conjugated to horseradish peroxidase into the masticatory muscles and of the anterograde tracer biocytin into the ipsilateral parvicellular reticular formation. The trigeminal motor nucleus was then examined for both anterograde and retrograde labelling in the light and electron microscopes. Retrogradely labelled motor neurones were identified in the trigeminal motor nucleus. They were large and their locations within the nucleus depended on the muscle injected. In addition, terminals anterogradely labelled with the biocytin that was injected in the parvicellular reticular formation were identified throughout the motor nucleus. At the electron microscopic level, the retrogradely labelled cells were found to receive input both from distinct types of unlabelled terminals and from terminals that were anterogradely labelled from the parvicellular reticular formation. The labelled terminals comprised one of the four classes of afferent terminals, being 1-2 microns in diameter and densely packed with spherical vesicles. They formed mostly asymmetrical but also symmetrical synapses with the labelled perikarya and dendrites. Anterogradely labelled terminals were also observed to form both symmetrical and asymmetrical synaptic contacts with unlabelled structures in the motor nucleus. It is concluded that neurones in the parvicellular reticular formation form direct synaptic contact with motor neurones of masticatory muscles. This pathway may represent the anatomical substrate by which the reticular formation exerts at least part of its influence on mastication. Since the parvicellular reticular formation receives input from the substantia nigra pars reticulata, it is possible that this pathway represents a system whereby the basal ganglia directly influence orofacial movement.

The lamellar organization of the rat substantia nigra pars reticulata: distribution of projection neurons

As a major output station of the basal ganglia, the pars reticulata of the substantia nigra has stimulated much interest. In the past two decades there has been a growing body of evidence for a partition of this structure into separate channels to express the striatal processing. To further our knowledge on the functional partitioning of the rodent substantia nigra pars reticulata, the regional distribution of the nigral efferent cell groups that provide innervation of thalamus, colliculus and tegmentum has been detailed in rat using the wheatgerm agglutinin conjugated with horseradish peroxidase as an axonal tracer. To ensure a total visualization of the nigral efferent neurons we have, in a preliminary study, determined the total extent of the nigral terminal field in each of the nigral target structures using the anterograde transport of wheatgerm agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase and Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin. At variance with the classical view that nigral cells innervating distinct target structures form functionally distinct subnuclei, the results suggest a nigral compartmentation that rather relies upon specific associations of efferent cell groups. As disclosed, these associations are specified by topographic rules and spatially ordered in a series of curved laminae enveloping an excentrated dorsolateral core. In this onion-like model of the substantia nigra pars reticulata, each lamella defines an associative unit composed of a set of neurons innervating particular loci of thalamus, colliculus and/or tegmentum. This lamellar partitioning bestows the ability upon the substantia nigra to dispatch the striatal outflow via parallel and divergent channels to functionally associated target areas in thalamus and brainstem.

Local cerebral metabolic effects induced by nigral stimulation following ventromedial thalamic lesions. II: Sensory motor, reticular and limbic systems

The involvement of the ventromedial thalamic nucleus (VM) in mediating the local cerebral metabolic effects induced by unilateral substantia nigra (SN) electrical stimulation was investigated in the awake rat. Local cerebral glucose utilization (LCGU) was measured during ipsilateral SN-stimulation in VM-intact rats as well as in animals bearing 8 or 30 days old electrolytic VM-lesions, using the 14C-deoxyglucose quantitative autoradiographic method. In VM-intact rats, SN-stimulation enhanced LCGU in several bilateral components of the sensory motor, reticular, and limbic systems despite the lack of direct anatomical connections. Almost all these metabolic activations were no longer apparent one week following VM-lesion. In contrast, one month after the VM-injury, the above activations reappeared even more dramatically than in VM-intact animals especially on the contralateral side. It is concluded that SN-stimulation activates several brain regions of both hemispheres beyond the traditional motor areas, the role of the VM in mediating these activations is crucial, and the plasticity of the adult CNS allows for recovery of metabolic responsiveness in a disturbed system.

In vivo release of [3H]GABA in cat caudate nucleus and substantia nigra. II. Involvement of different thalamic nuclei in the bilateral changes induced by a nigral application of muscimol

The contribution of motor and intralaminar thalamic nuclei to the changes of [3H]GABA release evoked in both caudate nuclei (CN) and both substantia nigra (SN) by a unilateral nigral application of muscimol (10(-6) M) was investigated on halothane-anaesthetized cats. Acute lesions were performed on one side of the thalamus at the level of either the ventralis medialis and ventralis lateralis (motor nuclei) or the centralis lateralis and paralamellar zone of the medialis dorsalis (intralaminar nuclei). The release of [3H]GABA neosynthesized from [3H]glutamine was measured by perfusing continuously a [3H]glutamine-enriched physiological medium through a push-pull cannula implanted in the 4 structures under investigation. After two hours of superfusion, muscimol (10(-6) M) was delivered for 60 min through the nigral push-pull cannula implanted ipsilaterally to the thalamic lesion. Evoked changes of [3H]GABA release were analyzed either in motor or intralaminar nuclei lesioned cats and compared to those observed in intact animals. Whatever the localization of the thalamic lesions was, an increased release of [3H]GABA was elicited locally in the SN and distally in the ipsilateral CN as in intact animals, suggesting that the responses induced ipsilaterally did not require nigro-thalamic pathways. On the contrary, in the contralateral CN changes of [3H]GABA release evoked by the nigral muscimol application were reversed by both types of thalamic lesion. Instead of a decreased release of [3H]GABA observed in intact cats, an increased release of [3H]GABA was detected in lesioned animals. In the contralateral SN, the response was reversed only after the intralaminar nuclei lesion. In this situation nigral muscimol application induced a decreased release of [3H]GABA in contrast to the enhanced release observed in intact and motor thalamic lesioned cats. The parallel increased release of [3H]GABA observed in the contralateral CN and SN in motor thalamic nuclei lesioned cats suggests an activation of the striatonigral cells by the nigral muscimol treatment. The asymmetrical changes of [3H]GABA release measured in the contralateral CN and SN in intact and intralaminar nuclei lesioned cats could indicate a presynaptic modulation of the [3H]GABA release acting either at the CN or the SN levels. The possible pathways involved in the interhemispheric transfer of information originating from one SN to the contralateral basal ganglia components are also discussed.

Investigation of the connection between the substantia nigra and the medullary reticular formation in the rat

Electrical stimulation of the rat substantia nigra (SN) has both excitatory and inhibitory effects on neurones in the medullary reticular formation (MRF). The SN does not appear to selectively influence neurones in either of the two MRF nuclei studied. Furthermore, SN stimulation does not preferentially influence nociceptive MRF neurones. Since only 1 of 75 neurons studied was antidromically activated by stimulation in the MRF, the present results do not support the suggestion that the nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis and SN are reciprocally linked in a monosynaptic fashion.

Electrophysiological evidence for branching nigral projections to pontine reticular formation, superior colliculus and thalamus

Neurons of the pars reticulata of the substantia nigra were activated antidromically by stimulating pontine reticular formation, superior colliculus and thalamus. Many nigral neurons (42.6%) were activated antidromically from pontine reticular formation ipsilaterally and about a half of them had branching axons to superior colliculus and/or thalamus.

Nigro-reticular pathway in the rat: an intracellular study

Stimulation of substantia nigra produced short latency excitatory and inhibitory post-synaptic potentials in neurons located in nucleus reticularis gigantocellularis in the reticular formation. These post-synaptic potentials were considered to be monosynaptic on the basis of constant latency at varying stimulus strength. It is suggested that substantia nigra is the source of the inhibition and that excitatory potentials are due to stimulation of cortico-reticular fibers.