Redistribution of facial nerve motor neurons after recovery from nerve crushing injury in the gerbil.
We investigated the redistribution of facial motor neurons after recovery from a crush injury of the facial nerve in the mongolian gerbil, with the retrograde transportation of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) technique. The facial nerve at the vertical segment was crushed unilaterally for 10 s with forceps. After 1 month, movement of the vibrissae and blinking reflex were observed. Three months after nerve injury, we obtained the brainstems to investigate the distribution of the facial nerve motor neurons. On the normal side, motor neurons of the ophthalmic branch of the facial nerve were organized at the dorsomedial and dorsolateral subdivisions of the facial nucleus, and those of the superior buccal branch were distributed at intermediate and ventrolateral subdivisions of the facial nucleus in the brainstem. On the experimental side, instead of somatotopical organization, we found widespread irregular distribution of the motor neurons of both branches in the entire facial nucleus of the brainstem.
Park
H J
HJ
Department of Otolaryngology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
Kim
H N
HN
Kim
K M
KM
D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology; D005154:Facial Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005158:Facial Paralysis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005849:Gerbillinae; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D009046:Motor Neurons; D009416:Nerve Regeneration
D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase