Bulbar catecholaminergic neurons projecting to the thoracic spinal cord of the chicken

摘要

This study was undertaken to map the location of cell groups in the chicken brain stem that project to the thoracic spinal cord by retrogradely transported Evans Blue (EB). The majority of EB-labeled neurons are located in an area between the nucleus vagus motorius (NVMD) and hypoglossus ventralis dorsomedialis, the nucleus raphis, the nucleus vestibularis ventrolateralis, the nucleus tegmentalis dorsalis (NTD) and the reticular formation. However, this procedure demonstrates that no cell bodies within the nucleus tractus solitarii project to the spinal cord, unlike those of mammals. It is possible that this difference may be involved in the existence of the diaphragma.