Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Transneuronal transport of wheat germ agglutinin conjugated horseradish peroxidase into last order spinal interneurones projecting to acromio- and spinodeltoideus motoneurones in the cat

1. Location of labelled interneurones and influence of synaptic activity on the transneuronal transport

  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Transneuronal transport of wheat germ agglutinin conjugated horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) was used to define the location of last order spinal interneurones projecting to deltoideus motoneurones in C5–C8 of the cat. Labelled interneurones were found bilaterally from rostral C1 to caudal Th5 and from L3 to the L4/5 border. Ipsilaterally they were located in laminae V–IX, while contralaterally they were confined to lamina VIII except for a few cells in laminae VII and IX. To estimate the degree to which inter-neuronal activity facilitates the transneuronal transport from deltoideus motoneurones, the numbers of labelled interneurones were compared under different experimental conditions after WGA-HRP injection. The number of labelled last order interneurones was larger in one awake and active cat than in one awake but inactive cat and also larger in six anaesthetized animals in which spinal pathways were stimulated to evoke antidromic and synaptic activation of the interneurones, than in two anaesthetized animals without stimulation. It is concluded that the transneuronal transport of WGA-HRP is considerably facilitated by increased activity in the last order interneurones. An overall tendency was observed for a positive correlation between the number of labelled interneurones and the number of primarily stained deltoideus motoneurones. In order to reach a detectable concentration of WGA-HRP in the last order interneurones a certain number of motoneurones has to be labelled to the extent that they appear homogenously black.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahlsén G (1981) Retrograde labelling of retinogeniculate neurones in the cat by HRP uptake from diffuse injection zone. Brain Res 223:374–380

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Kümmel H (1985) Transsynaptic labelling of neurones projecting to forelimb motoneurones in the cat. Acta Physiol Scand 123:14A

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Kümmel H (1986) Transneuronal labelling of neurones projecting to forelimb motoneurones in cats performing different movements. Brain Res 376:387–391

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Kümmel H (1990) Transneuronal transport of wheat germ agglutinin conjugated horseradish peroxidase into last order spinal interneurones projecting to Acromi- and Spinodeltoideus motoneurones in the cat. 2. Differential labelling of interneurones depending on movement type. Exp Brain Res 80:96–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Kümmel H, Pinter MJ, Tantisira B (1987a) Branching and termination of C3–C4 propriospinal neurones in the cervical spinal cord of the cat. Neurosci Lett 74:291–296

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Kümmel H, Tantisira B (1987b) Monosynaptic raphespinal and reticulospinal projection to forelimb motoneurones in cats. Neurosci Lett 74:286–290

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Lindström S, Lundberg A, Sybirska E (1981) Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat. 8. Ascending projection to the lateral reticular nucleus from C3–C4 propriospinal neurones also projecting to forelimb motoneurones. Exp Brain Res 42:282–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Lundberg A (1982) Electrophysiological evidence against the hypothesis that corticospinal fibres send collaterals to the lateral reticular nucleus. Exp Brain Res 47:148–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Lundberg A, Pinter M, Sasaki S (1987c) Subpopulations and functions of long C3–C4 propriospinal neurones. Brain Res 404:395–400

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Sasaki S (1986a) Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat. 14. Differential projection to fast and slow motoneurones from excitatory C3–C4 propriospinal neurones. Exp Brain Res 63:530–542

    Google Scholar 

  • Alstermark B, Sasaki S (1986b) Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat. 15. Comparison of the projection from excitatory C3–C4 propriospinal neurones to different species of forelimb motoneurones. Exp Brain Res 63:543–556

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldissera F, Hultborn H, Illert M (1981) Integration in spinal neuronal systems. In: Brooks VB (ed) Handbook of physiology, Sect I. The nervous system, Vol II. Motor control. American Physiological Society, Bethesda MD, pp 509–595

    Google Scholar 

  • Brink E, Harrison PJ, Jankowska E, McCrea DA, Skoog B (1983) Post-synaptic potentials in a population of motoneurones following activity of single interneurones in the cat. J Physiol (Lond) 343:341–359

    Google Scholar 

  • Brink E, Suzuki S, Timerick S, Wilson S (1985) Tonic neck reflex of the decerebrate cat: a role for propriospinal neurons. J Neurophysiol 54:978–987

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke RE, Rymer WZ, Walsh JV Jr (1976) Relative strength of synaptic input from short-latency pathways to motor units of defined type in cat medial gastrocnemius. J Neurophysiol 39:447–458

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavallari P, Edgley SA, Jankowska E (1987) Post-synaptic actions of midlumbar interneurones on motoneurones of hind-limb muscles in the cat. J Physiol (Lond) 389:675–689

    Google Scholar 

  • Clough JFM, Kernell D, Phillips CG (1968) The distribution of monosynaptic excitation from the pyramidal tract and from primary spindle afferents to motoneurones of the baboon's hand and forearm. J Physiol (Lond) 198:145–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Corvaja N, Grofova I, Pompeiano O, Walberg F (1977) The lateral reticular nucleus in the cat. I. An experimental anatomical study of its spinal and supraspinal afferent connections. Neuroscience 2:537–553

    Google Scholar 

  • Eccles JC, Fatt P, Koketsu K (1954) Cholinergic and inhibitory synapses in a pathway from motor-axon collaterals to motoneurones. J Physiol (Lond) 126:524–562

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelfan S (1964) Neuronal interdependence. Progr Brain Res 11:238–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerfen CR, O'Leary DDM, Cowan WM (1982) A note on transneuronal transport of wheat germ agglutinin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase in the avian and rodent visual systems. Exp Brain Res 48:443–448

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson AR, Hansma DI, Houk JC, Robinson FR (1984) A sensitive low artifact TMB procedure for the demonstration of WGA-HRP in the CNS. Brain Res 298:235–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant G, Illert M, Tanaka R (1980) Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat. 6. Anatomical evidence consistent with the existence of C3–C4 propriospinal neurones projecting to forelimb motornuclei. Exp Brain Res 38:87–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Grillner S, Hongo T, Lund S (1970) The vestibulospinal tract: effects on alpha-motoneurones in the lumbosacral spinal cord in the cat. Exp Brain Res 10:94–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanker JS, Yates PE, Metz CB, Carson KA, Light A, Rustioni A (1977) A new specific, sensitive and noncarcinogenic reagent for the demonstration of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Neuroscience Abstr 3:30

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison PJ, Hultborn H, Jankowska E, Katz R, Storai B, Zytnicki D (1984) Labelling of interneurones by retrograde transsynaptic transport of horseradish peroxidase from motoneurones in rats and cats. Neurosci Lett 45:15–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison PJ, Jankowska E, Zytnicki D (1986) Lamina VIII interneurones interposed in crossed reflex pathways in the cat. J Physiol (Lond) 371:147–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmqvist B, Lundberg A (1959) On the organization of the supraspinal inhibitory control of interneurones of various spinal reflex arcs. Arch Ital Biol 97:340–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Hrycyshyn AW, Flumerfelt BA (1981) A light microscopic investigation of the afferent connections of the lateral reticular nucleus in the cat. J Comp Neurol 197:477–502

    Google Scholar 

  • Hultborn H, Udo M (1972) Convergence of large muscle spindle (Ia) afferents at interneuronal level in the reciprocal Ia inhibitory pathway to motoneurones. Acta Physiol Scand 84:493–499

    Google Scholar 

  • Illert M, Lundberg A (1978) Collateral connections to the lateral reticular nucleus from cervical propriospinal neurones projecting to forelimb motoneurones in the cat. Neurosci Lett 7:167–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Illert M, Lundberg A, Tanaka R (1976) Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat. 1. Pyramidal effects on motoneurones. Exp Brain Res 26:509–519

    Google Scholar 

  • Illert M, Lundberg A, Tanaka R (1977) Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat. 3. Convergence on propriospinal neurones transmitting disynaptic excitation from the corticospinal tract and other descending tracts. Exp Brain Res 29:323–346

    Google Scholar 

  • Illert M, Tanaka R (1978) Integration in descending motor pathways controlling the forelimb in the cat. 4. Corticospinal inhibition of forelimb motoneurones mediated by short propriospinal neurones. Exp Brain Res 31:131–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Jankowska E (1985) Further indications for enhancement of retrograde transneuronal transport of WGA-HRP by synaptic activity. Brain Res 341:403–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Jankowska E, Lindström S (1972) Morphology of interneurones mediating Ia reciprocal inhibition of motoneurones in the spinal cord of the cat. J Physiol (Lond) 22:805–823

    Google Scholar 

  • Jankowska E, Roberts W (1972) An electrophysiological demonstration of the axonal projections of single spinal interneurones in the cat. J Physiol (Lond) 222:597–622

    Google Scholar 

  • Jankowska E, Skoog B (1986) Labelling of midlumbar neurones projecting to cat hindlimb motoneurones by transneuronal transport of a horseradish peroxidase conjugate. Neurosci Lett 71:163–168

    Google Scholar 

  • van Keulen L (1979) Relations between individual motoneurones and individual Renshaw cells. Neurosci Lett (Suppl) 3:S 313

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozhanov VM, Shapovalov AI (1977) Synaptic organization of the supraspinal control of propriospinal ventral horn interneurons in cat and monkey spinal cord. Neurophysiology (Kiev) 9:177–184

    Google Scholar 

  • LaVail JH, Sugino IK, McDonald DM (1983) Localization of axonally transported 125I-wheat germ agglutinin beneath the plasma membrane of chick retinal ganglion cells. J Cell Biol 96:373–381

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd DPC (1941) The spinal mechanism of the pyramidal system in cats. J Neurophysiol 4:525–546

    Google Scholar 

  • Lundberg A (1982) Inhibitory control from the brain stem of transmission from primary afferents to motoneurons, primary afferent terminals and ascending pathways. In: Sjölund B, Björklund A (eds) Brain stem control of spinal mechanisms. Elsevier Biomedical Press, pp 179–224

  • Marinesco G (1904) Recherches sur les localisations motrices spinales. La Semaine Medicale 24:225–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Mesulam MM (1978) Tetramethylbenzidine for horseradish peroxidase neurohistochemistry: a non-carcinogenic blue reaction-product with superior sensitivity for visualizing neural afferents and efferents. J Histochem Cytochem 26:106–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller S, Reitsma DJ, van der Meche FGA (1973) Functional organization of long ascending propriospinal pathways linking lumbosacral and cervical segments in the cat. Brain Res 62:169–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Molenaar J (1978) The distribution of propriospinal neurons to different motoneuronal cell groups in the cat's brachial cord. Brain Res 158:203–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson BW, Maunz RA, Pitts NG, Mackel RG (1975) Patterns of projection and branching of reticulospinal neurons. Exp Brain Res 23:333–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Rexed B (1954) A cytoarchitectonic atlas of the spinal cord in the cat. J Comp Neurol 100:297–379

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson B, Grant G (1985) A comparison between WGA-HRP and cholerogenoid-HRP as anterogradely transported markers of primary sensory neurones in the rat with some observations in the cat. Neuroscience 14:895–905

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosene DL, Mesulam MM (1978) Fixation variables in horseradish peroxidase neurohistochemistry. I. The effect of fixation time and perfusion procedures upon enzyme activity. J Histochem Cytochem 26:28–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruda M, Coulter JD (1982) Axonal and transneuronal transport of wheat germ agglutinin demonstrated by immunocytochemistry. Brain Res 249:237–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Schor RH, Suzuki I, Timerick SJB, Wilson VJ (1986) Responses of interneurons in the cat cervical cord to vestibular tilt stimulation. J Neurophysiol 56:1147–1156

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherrington CS, Laslett BE (1903) Observations on some spinal reflexes and the interconnection of spinal segments. J Physiol (Lond) 29:58–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer RF, Baker H, Baker R (1982) Evaluation of wheat germ agglutinin immunohistochemistry as a neuroanatomical method for retrograde, anterograde, and anterograde transsynaptic labelling in the cat visual and oculomotor systems. Soc Neurosci Abstr 8:785

    Google Scholar 

  • Svensson BA, Rastad J, Westman J (1984) Endogenous peroxidaselike activity in the feline dorsal column nuclei and spinal cord. Exp Brain Res 55:325–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Warr WB, de Olmos JS, Heimer L (1981) Horseradish peroxidase: the basic procedure. In: Heimer L, Robards MJ (eds) Neuroanatomical tract-tracing methods. Plenum Press, New York London, pp 207–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson VJ, Yoshida M (1969) Comparison of effects of stimulation of Deiter's nucleus and medial longitudinal fasciculus on neck, forelimb and hindlimb motoneurones. J Neurophysiol 32:743–758

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. H. Kümmel

    Present address: Physiologisches Institut der Universität Kiel, Olshausenstraβe 40/60, D-2300, Kiel, FRG

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Göteborg, P.O. Box 33031, S-400 33, Göteborg, Sweden

    B. Alstermark & H. Kümmel

Authors
  1. B. Alstermark
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. H. Kümmel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Alstermark, B., Kümmel, H. Transneuronal transport of wheat germ agglutinin conjugated horseradish peroxidase into last order spinal interneurones projecting to acromio- and spinodeltoideus motoneurones in the cat. Exp Brain Res 80, 83–95 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00228850

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00228850

Key words

Search

Navigation