Electrophysiological and anatomical demonstration of a bulbar relayed pathway towards the medial thalamus in the rat.
In the rat cells antidromically activated by stimulation of the thalamic centrum medianum and centralis lateralis were searched for in the bulbopontine region which receives spinoreticular pathways. Antidromically activated cells were found in the nuclei gigantocellularis and pontis oralis and they possessed peripheral receptive fields that were large, bilateral and often responded to nociceptive stimuli. Injections of horseradish peroxidase or iron-dextran at the same thalamic level revealed retrogradely labelled cells in the same bulbopontine nuclei. Cells retrogradely labelled were also found in the mesencephalic reticular formation, the inferior colliculus and grisea centralis.
D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*