Distinct development of peripheral trigeminal pathways in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) and short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

Quantitative Analysis of the Timing of Development of the Cerebellum and Precerebellar Nuclei in Monotremes, Metatherians, Rodents, and Humans

We have used a quantitative statistical approach to compare the pace of development in the cerebellum and precerebellar systems relative to body size in monotremes and metatherians with that in eutherians (rodents and humans). Embryos, fetuses, and early postnatal mammals were scored on whether key structural events had been reached in the development of the cerebellum itself (CC-corpus cerebelli; 10 milestones), or the pontine and inferior olivary precerebellar nuclear groups (PC; 4 milestones). We found that many early cerebellar and precerebellar milestones (e.g., formation of Purkinje cell layer and deep cerebellar nuclei) were reached at a smaller absolute body length in both metatherians and eutherians together, compared to monotremes. Some later milestones (e.g., formation of the external granular layer and primary fissuration) were reached at a smaller body length in metatherians than eutherians. When the analysis was performed with proportional body length expressed as a natural log-transformed ratio of length at birth, milestones were reached at a much smaller proportional body length in rodents and humans than in the metatherians or monotremes. The findings are consistent with the slower pace of metabolic activity and embryonic development in monotremes. They also indicate slightly advanced maturation of some early features of the cerebellum in some metatherians (i.e., early cerebellar development in dasyurids relative to body size), but do not support the notion of an accelerated development of the cerebellum to cope with the demands of early birth. Anat Rec, 2019. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy Anat Rec, 303:1998-2013, 2020. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy.

Quantitative Analysis of the Maturation of the Main and Accessory Olfactory Systems in Monotremes and Metatherians in Comparison to Rodents and Humans

We have used an unbiased statistical approach to compare the pace of development in the main and accessory olfactory systems in monotremes and metatherians with that in rodents and humans. We hypothesized that if metatherians and monotremes, which are born at small body size, use olfaction to locate the pouch and/or teat/milk field, then olfactory structures should reach structural maturity in metatherians and monotremes at a smaller size than eutherians like humans and rodents. The achievement of key structural milestones in the development of the main and accessory olfactory systems (11 and 7 milestones, respectively) was scored for 354 specimens and compared against a measure of general somatic growth (body length). We used a statistical approach adapted from Kaplan-Meier analysis to determine median body length at which structural milestones were achieved, and to test the differences for statistical significance (Braslow statistic). The laboratory mouse achieved most main olfactory milestones at a smaller body size than all the metatherians and the monotremes, although the dasyurids (which are born at only 5.0 mm) and mouse achieved accessory olfactory milestones at similar body length. All other metatherians and monotremes reached olfactory milestones at body lengths similar to or larger than the laboratory rat. We therefore reject the hypothesis that metatherians and monotremes as a group exhibit advanced development of the olfactory pathways relative to body size. The findings suggest that, if olfaction is used by metatherians and monotremes at birth, it is achieved with only a rudimentary system without structurally mature central components. Anat Rec, 301:1258-1275, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Timing of mammalian peripheral trigeminal system development relative to body size: A comparison of metatherians with rodents and monotremes

Specializations of the trigeminal sensory system are present in all three infraclasses of mammals (metatheria, eutheria, prototheria or monotremata). The trigeminal sensory system has been suggested as a critically important modality for sampling the path to the pouch and detecting the nipple or milk patch, but the degree to which that system may be required to function at birth varies significantly. Archived sections of the snout and brainstem of embryonic and postnatal mammals were used to test the relationship between structural maturity of the two ends of the trigeminal nerve pathway and the body size of mammalian young in metatherians, rodents and monotremes. A system for staging different levels of structural maturity of the vibrissae and trigeminal sensory was applied to embryos, pouch young and hatchlings and correlated with body length. Dasyurids are born at the most immature state with respect to vibrissal and trigeminal sensory nucleus development of any available metatherian, but these components of the trigeminal system are also developmentally advanced relative to body size when dasyurids are compared to other metatherians. Vibrissal and trigeminal sensory nucleus development is at a similar stage of development at birth and for a given body size in non-dasyurid metatherians; and trigeminal sensory nucleus development in monotremes is at a similar stage at birth to metatherians. Rodents reach a far more advanced stage of vibrissal and trigeminal sensory nucleus development at birth than do metatherians, and in the case of the mouse have a more developmentally advanced trigeminal system than all available metatherians at any given body length. Precocious development of the trigeminal sensory pathway relative to body size is evident in dasyurids, as might be expected given the small birth size of those metatherians. Nevertheless, the trigeminal sensory system in metatherians in general is not precocious relative to body size when these species are considered alongside the pace of trigeminal somatosensory development in rodents.

Vestibular development in marsupials and monotremes

The young of marsupials and monotremes are all born in an immature state, followed by prolonged nurturing by maternal lactation in either a pouch or nest. Nevertheless, the level of locomotor ability required for newborn marsupials and monotremes to reach the safety of the pouch or nest varies considerably: some are transferred to the pouch or nest in an egg (monotremes); others are transferred passively by gravity (e.g. dasyurid marsupials); some have only a horizontal wriggle to make (e.g. peramelid and didelphid marsupials); and others must climb vertically for a long distance to reach the maternal pouch (e.g. diprotodontid marsupials). In the present study, archived sections of the inner ear and hindbrain held in the Bolk, Hill and Hubrecht collections at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, were used to test the relationship between structural maturity of the vestibular apparatus and the locomotor challenges that face the young of these different mammalian groups. A system for staging different levels of structural maturity of the vestibular apparatus was applied to the embryos, pouch young and hatchlings, and correlated with somatic size as indicated by greatest body length. Dasyurids are born at the most immature state, with the vestibular apparatus at little more than the otocyst stage. Peramelids are born with the vestibular apparatus at a more mature state (fully developed semicircular ducts and a ductus reuniens forming between the cochlear duct and saccule, but no semicircular canals). Diprotodontids and monotremes are born with the vestibular apparatus at the most mature state for the non-eutherians (semicircular canals formed, maculae present, but vestibular nuclei in the brainstem not yet differentiated). Monotremes and marsupials reach the later stages of vestibular apparatus development at mean body lengths that lie within the range of those found for laboratory rodents (mouse and rat) reaching the same vestibular stage.

Distinct development of the trigeminal sensory nuclei in platypus and echidna

Both lineages of the modern monotremes have been reported to be capable of electroreception using the trigeminal pathways and it has been argued that electroreception arose in an aquatic platypus-like ancestor of both modern monotreme groups. On the other hand, the trigeminal sensory nuclear complex of the platypus is highly modified for processing tactile and electrosensory information from the bill, whereas the trigeminal sensory nuclear complex of the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is not particularly specialized. If the common ancestor for both platypus and echidna were an electroreceptively and trigeminally specialized aquatic feeder, one would expect the early stages of development of the trigeminal sensory nuclei in both species to show evidence of structural specialization from the outset. To determine whether this is the case, we examined the development of the trigeminal sensory nuclei in the platypus and short-beaked echidna using the Hill and Hubrecht embryological collections. We found that the highly specialized features of the platypus trigeminal sensory nuclei (i.e. the large size of the principal nucleus and oral part of the spinal trigeminal nuclear complex, and the presence of a dorsolateral parvicellular segment in the principal nucleus) appear around the time of hatching in the platypus, but are never seen at any stage in the echidna. Our findings support the proposition that the modern echidna and platypus are derived from a common ancestor with only minimal trigeminal specialization and that the peculiar anatomy of the trigeminal sensory nuclei in the modern platypus emerged in the ornithorhynchids after divergence from the tachyglossids.