Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 13, 2946-2964, Copyright © 1993 by Society for Neuroscience
Structure-function relationships in rat brainstem subnucleus interpolaris. X. Mechanisms underlying enlarged spared whisker projections after infraorbital nerve injury at birth
MF Jacquin, DS Zahm, TA Henderson, JP Golden, EM Johnson, WE Renehan and BG Klein
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, St. Louis University School of Medicine, Missouri 63104.
Prior studies indicate that the central projections of noninfraorbital
vibrissae occupy greater than normal transverse areas in the rat trigeminal
brainstem complex after infraorbital nerve section at birth. Here, we
assessed the development of this phenomenon and possible underlying
mechanisms. Cytochrome oxidase patches representing spared supraorbital
(SO) or posteroorbital (PO) whiskers in the trigeminal subnucleus
interpolaris (SpVi) were not reliably larger than those on the control side
24 hr after the infraorbital lesion. By 72 hr, SO and PO patches were 91%
and 28% larger than those on the control side. Reliable increases were also
observed on postnatal day 5 (PND5), PND7, and PND10 for the SO (59%, 65%,
66%) and PO (23%, 44%, 51%) patches. To test the hypothesis that central
reorganization reflects the maintenance of peripheral supernumerary axons,
myelinated and unmyelinated axons in SO vibrissa follicles were counted at
PND0, PND7, PND17, and PND60. A corollary hypothesis, that peripheral
regeneration errors result in both SO and surviving infraorbital axons,
contributing to central SO patches, was tested with retrograde
double-labeling methods. Both hypotheses were rejected. Thus, enlargement
of SO patches is not due to either the maintenance of an immature
peripheral innervation pattern, or regeneration of infraorbital axons into
SO follicles. To determine if the enlargement of SO and PO patches produced
by infraorbital nerve section is due to an activity-dependent competitive
disadvantage imposed upon infraorbital afferents, TTX or bupivicaine was
applied to the intact infraorbital nerve over the first 5-9 postnatal days.
Brainstem maps developed normally and SO and PO patch areas were
unaffected. Thus, impulse activity-based mechanisms do not appear to
contribute to injury-induced patch enlargement. To test the hypothesis that
patch enlargement is due to central collateral reorganization, intra-axonal
recording and staining methods were applied to control and spared-whisker
primary afferents in adult rats. Total bouton or collateral numbers did not
differ in SpVi; however, arbor areas were reliably larger in experimental
(14,879 +/- 350 microns 2) versus control (5527 +/- 1811 microns 2)
fibers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)