Correlation of peripheral receptive field area and rostrocaudal locus of neurons within the raccoon cuneate nucleus

The immediate effects of peripheral deafferentation on neurons of the cuneate nucleus in raccoons

Single-unit recordings were obtained from 42 neurons in the cuneate nucleus of 12 anesthetized raccoons. All neurons had receptive fields on the glabrous skin of a forepaw digit. Temporary removal of the dominant excitatory input to a neuron, by injection of lidocaine into the base of the digit, did not result in any expansion of the excitatory receptive field onto adjacent, "off-focus" digits. Similarly, the responses evoked from the off-focus digits by electrical stimulation, which had a longer latency and a higher threshold, were not improved during the lidocaine block. Inhibition was produced in the majority of neurons by high-intensity mechanical stimulation of the off-focus digits, but this was also unchanged when the dominant excitatory input to the neurons was blocked. Since this from of inhibition is not apparent in the somatosensory thalamus before denervation, the spontaneous activity of thalamic neurons must be controlled by inputs other than the cuneate nucleus. These results also indicate that the long-term reorganization seen in the thalamus and cortex is not attributable to a simple unmasking of connections from the adjacent digits within the cuneate nucleus, but may involve strengthening of the connections responsible for longer-latency responses. The only significant change induced in cuneate neurons by temporary denervation was a decrease in the firing rates of 69% of the neurons that had spontaneous activity. Since it is unlikely that any of the large-diameter afferents from touch receptors can account for this finding, mechanically insensitive afferent fibers from the digit may contribute to the spontaneous activity of cuneate neurons, either directly or via a relay in the spinal cord.

Single fiber studies of ascending input to the cuneate nucleus of cats: I. Morphometry of primary afferent fibers

The morphology of afferent fibers ascending to the cuneate nucleus has been examined in this and the subsequent paper in order to quantify the pattern of arborization and bouton arrangement of selected classes of primary afferents and to compare these data with data from postsynaptic fibers ascending to the cuneate nucleus. Electrophysiologically identified G hair and Ia muscle afferent fibers in the cuneate fasciculus were intraaxonally injected with horseradish peroxidase. Cutaneous afferents terminated dorsal to proprioceptive afferents, especially at middle levels of the cuneate nucleus. The spacing of collaterals along G hair fibers was variable, but averaged 1.46 collaterals per mm; collateral density was higher at middle cuneate levels than in the rest of the nucleus. Collateral density of Ia fibers was lower than for G hair fibers and was lowest at caudal levels of the nucleus. Branches of G hair collaterals, though often initially diverging, usually converged to terminate in a single focus in the dorsal part of the nucleus. The probability of bifurcation of Ia collaterals decreased steadily at successive branch points. These collaterals branched less symmetrically than G hair collaterals, and terminated in the ventral cuneate with less dense arbors, stretched mediolaterally, but of comparable cross-sectional area. Individual G hair collaterals gave rise to more boutons than Ia collaterals; in both cases they were mostly of the en passant type. Boutons were restricted to distal branches of G hair collaterals, whereas boutons of Ia collaterals were also located on proximal branches. Bouton size was similar for the two classes of collaterals. The data reported here, in combination with the published literature, suggest that the collaterals of roughly 300 G hair fibers overlap at any given point at middle levels of the cuneate nucleus. This high degree of anatomical convergence is not predicted by the functional segregation described with electrophysiological mapping, implying the presence of intrinsic nuclear mechanisms enhancing response specificity.

Coding of stimulus location and intensity in populations of mechanosensitive nerve fibers of the raccoon: I. Single fiber response properties

The primary aim of this study was to determine and compare the receptive field (RF) characteristics and response properties of single mechanosensitive nerve fibers innervating the glabrous skin of the forepaw and hindpaw of the raccoon. The action potentials of 129 median nerve fibers and 61 posterior tibial nerve fibers were recorded in response to punctate mechanical stimuli varying in location and intensity. The stimuli were delivered to six standard test sites on digit 1 and the contiguous pads of each paw. Attempts were made to classify each fiber according to its rate of adaptation to sustained stimulation; the RF of each fiber was mapped using a standard series of stimulus intensities. The results indicated that the response properties of individual fibers were highly complex and depended on the location and intensity of stimulation. 1) The distributions of absolute threshold were not different for the median or tibial nerve fibers or for different classes of fibers based on adaptation rate. A distal to proximal increase in threshold was found for each paw, suggesting a corresponding gradient of sensitivity across the glabrous skin. 2) Threshold RF areas did not vary across either paw nor did they differ between the two paws. Suprathreshold RFs were quite large relative to expected tactile acuity and displayed complex features. 3) Response properties such as adaptation rate, on- and off-responses, were found to vary with both stimulus location and intensity. It was concluded that the responses of individual nerve fibers could not uniquely encode any stimulus parameter tested, and that the properties of single fibers could not account for apparent differences in tactile acuity across each paw or between the two paws.

Brainstem projections to the rat cuneate nucleus

Neurons in the pontomedullary tegmentum have been proposed as a final common pathway subserving descending inhibition in the dorsal column nuclei. To investigate the anatomical substrate for these descending effects, brainstem projections to the cuneate nucleus of rats were studied with injections of lectin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase. In rats with iontophoretic tracer injections in this nucleus, many labeled neurons were detected near the injection site, especially ventral and caudal to it. Intrinsic reciprocal projections were observed after injections in caudal, middle, or rostral levels of the cuneate nucleus. Neurons were labeled in the red nucleus, in agreement with previous anatomical studies, and also in the trigeminal, vestibular, and cochlear nuclei. An ipsilateral dorsomedial group of neurons was labeled in the upper cervical segments and scattered neurons were also labeled bilaterally near the central canal. Sparse retrograde labeling in the tegmentum was focused in the lateral paragigantocellular nucleus and caudal raphe. Consistent with the retrograde experiments, anterograde labeling after pressure injections of lectin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase in the pontomedullary tegmentum was very sparse within the dorsal column nuclei; labeling was dense, however, in the region immediately ventral to these nuclei. These results confirm previous work indicating that the activity of cuneate neurons is modulated by brainstem sensory nuclei. However, it appears that direct projections to the cuneate nucleus from pontine and rostral medullary regions are sparser than previously suggested. The last link of a polysynaptic descending inhibitory pathway may include GABAergic neurons immediately adjacent to the dorsal column nuclei and/or intrinsic to these nuclei.

Response properties of raccoon cuneothalamic neurons

Microelectrodes were used to record the extracellular activity of 80 single neurons of the main cuneate nucleus (MCN) of raccoons anesthetized with either methoxyflurane or pentobarbital sodium. All 80 MCN neurons had peripheral receptive fields (RFs) that lay entirely on the glabrous surfaces of the forepaw and were responsive to light mechanical stimulation. Neurons were characterized according to the nature of their response to mechanical stimulation of their RFs, as well as to their response to electrical stimulation of the contralateral thalamic ventrobasal complex (VB). All antidromically activated neurons (64% of sample) were histologically verified as falling within the clusters region of the MCN, while synaptically activated neurons (19% of sample), as well as neurons not responsive to VB stimulation (17% of sample), were located in both the clusters and the polymorphic regions. Antidromically activated neurons typically responded with a single fixed-latency spike, although a few responded with a burst of 3 or more spikes. Others responded with a single antidromic spike followed by a train of synaptically activated spikes. In these latter neurons, it was often possible to block the synaptic spikes selectively. MCN neurons were classed according to their response to controlled mechanical stimuli as rapidly adapting (RA), slowly adapting (SA), or Pacinian (Pc). The proportions of neurons falling into these categories did not vary significantly with the type of response to thalamic stimulation, and the overall percentages were 56% RA, 24% SA, and 20% Pc. These figures are very similar to those previously obtained in a sample of primary afferent fibers of the raccoon cervical cuneate fasciculus (L. M. Pubols and Pubols, 1973). Absolute displacement, displacement velocity, and force thresholds, which ranged between 4 and 326 micron, 0.01 and 16.3 micron/msec, and 120 and 3600 mg, respectively, are comparable to those previously found for primary afferents supplying mechanoreceptors of the glabrous surfaces of the raccoon's forepaw. Neither displacement nor force thresholds differed for RA versus SA neurons; however, displacement velocity thresholds were significantly lower for SA than for RA neurons.

Electrophysiology of raccoon cuneocerebellar neurons

Electrophysiological experiments were undertaken in order to locate and functionally characterize cells of the raccoon main cuneate nucleus (MCN) that can be activated by electrical stimulation of the cerebellum. A total of 98 such units were studied in pentobarbital sodium-anesthetized, methoxyflurane-anesthetized, or decerebrate preparations. Aside from a greater likelihood of resting discharge in the decerebrate preparations, no appreciable variability in physiological properties of the neurons could be attributed to differences in the type of preparation. Using constant latency of response and ability to be blocked by collision as principal criteria, both antidromically (n = 31) and synaptically (n = 67) activated neurons of the main cuneate nucleus could be identified. A small number of MCN neurons could be activated by both cerebellar and thalamic stimulation, but no unit was antidromically activated from both locations. MCN neurons projecting to the cerebellum are located primarily in the ventral polymorphic cell region of the nucleus at and rostral to the obex, corresponding to the "medial tongue" region of Johnson et al. (1968). In contrast, neurons synaptically activated from the cerebellum are found throughout the dorsoventral extent of the rostral MCN, including the "clusters" region. The majority of antidromically activated units responded to mechanical stimulation of deeper tissues, and most of these were activated by muscle stretch. Only a small portion (13-15%) of either antidromically or synaptically activated units were classed as light touch units with peripheral receptive fields (RFs) restricted to glabrous surfaces of the forepaw. Glabrous skin RFs located on the digital surfaces are smaller than those located on the palm pads. In both cases, RFs are larger than those associated with primary afferent fibers, but toward the low end of the distribution for MCN neurons not activated by cerebellar stimulation. All MCN units activated by cerebellar stimulation, regardless of modality, respond to mechanical stimulation with trains of irregularly spaced single spikes. Glabrous skin cutaneous mechanoreceptive MCN neurons, whether rapidly or slowly adapting, respond to ramp indentations with an instantaneous frequency which may be described as a power function of ramp velocity, with exponents less than one. These values are in the same range as those previously reported for primary afferents of the cuneate fasciculus (Pubols and Pubols, 1973).