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Transneuronal tracing of vestibulo-trigeminal pathways innervating the masseter muscle in the rat

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Abstract

Previous studies reported that the activity of trigeminal motoneurons innervating masseter muscles is modulated by vestibular inputs. We performed the present study to provide an anatomical substrate for these physiological observations. The transynaptic retrograde tracer pseudorabies virus-Bartha was injected into multiple sites of the lower third of the superficial layer of the masseter muscle in rats, a subset of which underwent a sympathectomy prior to virus injections, and the animals were euthanized 24–120 h later. Labeled masseteric motoneurons were first found in the ipsilateral trigeminal motor nucleus following a 24-h postinoculation period; subsequent to 72-h survival times, the number of infected motoneurons increased, and at ≥96 h many of these cells showed signs of cytopathic changes. Following 72-h survival times, a few transynaptically labeled neurons appeared bilaterally in the medial vestibular nucleus (MVe) and the caudal prepositus hypoglossi (PH) and in the ipsilateral spinal vestibular nucleus (SpVe). At survival times of 96–120 h, labeled neurons were consistently observed bilaterally in all vestibular nuclei (VN), although the highest concentration of infected cells was located in the caudal part of the MVe, the SpVe, and the caudal portion of PH. The distribution and density of labeling in the VN and PH were similar in sympathectomized and nonsympathectomized rats. These anatomical data provide the first direct evidence that neurons in the VN and PH project bilaterally to populations of motoneurons innervating the lower third of the superficial layer of the masseter muscle. The MVe, PH, and SpVe appear to play a predominant integrative role in producing vestibulo-trigeminal responses.

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Acknowledgements

Pseudorabies virus and anti-pseudorabies virus antibodies were the generous gift of Dr. Lynn Enquist of Princeton University. The authors thank Lucy Cotter, Jen-Shew Yen, and Bob Sabol for valuable technical assistance in completing this study. Funding was provided by Grants R01-DC003732 and R03-DC005911 from the National Institutes of Health (USA), as well as Ministero dell’ Università della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica and Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (Italy).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, Eye and Ear Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Room 519, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    E. Giaconi, B. Cuccurazzu, B. J. Yates & I. Billig

  2. Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    B. J. Yates

  3. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

    E. Giaconi, F. Deriu, E. Tolu & B. Cuccurazzu

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  1. E. Giaconi
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  2. F. Deriu
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  3. E. Tolu
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  4. B. Cuccurazzu
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  5. B. J. Yates
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  6. I. Billig
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Correspondence to B. J. Yates.

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Giaconi, E., Deriu, F., Tolu, E. et al. Transneuronal tracing of vestibulo-trigeminal pathways innervating the masseter muscle in the rat. Exp Brain Res 171, 330–339 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-0275-8

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