Spinal topography of the projection of the auricular nerve in the rabbit: a transganglionic WGA-HRP study.
The central projections of the nervous branches supplying the rabbit's concha auriculae have been determined by means of the transganglionic transport of WGA-HRP. Labeling appeared in trigeminal, C2 and C3 ganglion cells, but terminals were observed only at spinal levels (C2 and C3). There, they formed a wedge-shaped column of label centered mainly in lamina II; scattered terminals appeared in lamina III and I. These terminals constitute the afferent link of the pathway that accounts for the analgesia obtained after electrical stimulation of the concha auriculae.
D000698:Analgesia; D000818:Animals; D004431:Ear, External / Q000294:innervation*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D011817:Rabbits; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013127:Spinal Nerves / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014278:Trigeminal Nuclei / Q000033:anatomy & histology