G. Horcholle-Bossavit

Anatomical and electrophysiological identification of motoneurones supplying the cat retractor bulbi muscle.

SummaryMotoneurones innervating the retractor bulbi muscle in the cat have been identified by retrograde labelling with horseradish peroxidase, by intracellular recording and by intracellular staining with horseradish peroxidase. Their somata are found in an accessory abducens nucleus, analogous to that described in some other species, which consists of a narrow column of cells situated in the lateral tegmental reticular field, above the superior olive and medial to the facial nerve. This column of cells extends over approximately 1.5 mm from P 5.5 to P 7. The retractor bulbi motoneurones number from 80 to 120 and have large, elongated somata which give rise to five or six major dendrites. Their axons cross the reticular formation in a dorso-medial direction to pass through the principal abducens nucleus before turning to leave the brain stem in the 6th nerve. Antidromic latencies ranged from 0.4 to 0.7 ms. Some retractor bulbi motoneurones could also be activated antidromically by stimulation of the lateral rectus muscle nerve.

Activity-dependent reconfiguration of the effective dendritic field of motoneurons

A neuron in vivo receives a continuous bombardment of synaptic inputs that modify the integrative properties of dendritic arborizations by changing the specific membrane resistance (Rm). To address the mechanisms by which the synaptic background activity transforms the charge transfer effectiveness (Tx) of a dendritic arborization, the authors simulated a neuron at rest and a highly excited neuron. After in vivo identification of the motoneurons recorded and stained intracellularly, the motoneuron arborizations were reconstructed at high spatial resolution. The neuronal model was constrained by the geometric data describing the numerized arborization. The electrotonic structure and Tx were computed under different Rm values to mimic a highly excited neuron (1 kOhm.cm2) and a neuron at rest (100 kOhm.cm2). The authors found that the shape and the size of the effective dendritic fields varied in the function of Rm. In the highly excited neuron, the effective dendritic field was reduced spatially by switching off most of the distal dendritic branches, which were disconnected functionally from the somata. At rest, the entire dendritic field was highly efficient in transferring current to the somata, but there was a lack of spatial discrimination. Because the large motoneurons are more sensitive to variations in the upper range of Rm, they switch off their distal dendrites before the small motoneurons. Thus, the same anatomic structure that shrinks or expands according to the background synaptic activity can select the types of its synaptic inputs. The results of this study demonstrate that these reconfigurations of the effective dendritic field of the motoneurons are activity‐dependent and geometry‐dependent. J. Comp. Neurol. 422:18–34, 2000.

Electrotonic coupling between motoneurones in the abducens nucleus of the cat

SummaryThe electrical stimulation of the abducens nerve provokes the classical true antidromic invasion of the abducens motoneurone and a depolarization which is often capable of generating full action potentials in the impaled motoneurone. Experiments studying these depolarizations suggest the existence of electrotonic coupling between the abducens motoneurones of the cat.Intracellular activity of the abducens motoneurones was recorded following intracellular stimulation of the impaled neurone and antidromic stimulation of the abducens nerve. Collision between the outgoing action potential and the antidromic volley differentiated the true antidromic spike from the depolarizations which can induce or not action potentials. The latency of the depolarization ranged between 100 and 1200 μsec. Collision demonstrated that the depolarization and the true antidromic action potential have an independent origin. The depolarizations and action potentials which are not conveyed to the motoneurone by its own axon are interpreted to be generated by electrotonic coupling.

Distribution of glycinergic terminals on lumbar motoneurons of the adult cat : an ultrastructural study

The distribution of glycine-like immunoreactivity on cat lumbar motoneurons was examined in electron microscopy, using pre-embedding immunocytochemistry. In the dorsolateral portion of the ventral horn, numerous labeled axon terminals were presynaptic to somatic and dendritic profiles of alpha-motoneurons. Most of the glycinergic boutons contained pleomorphic vesicles and showed symmetrical contacts. On the somatic and proximal dendritic compartments, glycinergic terminals accounted for, respectively, 24.6 and 26.6% of the total number of terminals. There were very few glycinergic terminals on gamma-motoneurons. Immunoreactive axons, dendrites and cell bodies were also observed near the motoneurons. These results support the view that glycine plays a major role in the inhibition of alpha-motoneurons and suggest that inhibitory mechanisms occur on the soma as well as on dendrites.

Reflex control of the retractor bulbi muscle in the cat.

The effects of vestibular and trigeminal stimulation on reflex responses of each slip of the retractor bulbi muscle were tested by recording the electromyogram.1.In “encéphale isolé” cat, phasic electrical stimulation of the horizontal canal induced no response in the RB slips. Repetitive vestibular stimulation did not produce nystagmus in the RB muscle while strong muscular discharges were observed in the nystagmus lateral rectus muscle.2.In anaesthetized cats, three trigeminal inputs elicited strong reflex responses in each slip of the RB muscle. Electrical stimulation of the vibrissae or the infra-orbital nerve evoked a two component reflex response (latencies: 5ms±0.5 and 14ms±2). Electrical stimulation of the supraorbital nerve elicited a single component reflex response (latency: 6ms±0.5). Electrical stimulation of the long ciliary nerves evoked a complex response with four components (latencies: 7.5ms±0.5, 10ms±2,15ms±2,20ms±2)3.Pentobarbital and morphine produced lasting depression of the reflex responses of the RB muscle. The depressive effect of morphine was reversed by naloxone.

Neuronal morphology data bases: morphological noise and assesment of data quality.

For technical, instrumental and operator-related reasons, three-dimensional reconstructions of neurons obtained from intracellularly stained neuronal pieces scattered in serial sections are blurred by some morphological noise. This noise may strongly invalidate conclusions drawn from models built using the three-dimensional reconstructions and it must be taken into account when retrieving digitized neurons from available databases. We analyse the main generating sources of the noise and its consequences for the ‘quality’ of the data. We provide tools for detecting and evaluating the noise in any database providing sufficient information is given in the database. We propose a unified format for submitting data and a new neuron viewer/editor to analyse the digitized neurons with our tools.

The vibrissal pad as a source of sensory information for the oculomotor system of the cat

SummaryResponses from lateral rectus, medial rectus and retractor bulbi nerves were obtained following electrical stimulation of the vibrissal pad of the cat. Discharges in afferent fibres dissected from the infraorbital nerve were recorded during movements of the vibrissae and following electrical stimulation of the vibrissal pad. Both stimuli activated the same population of Aα fibers. Intracellular records were obtained from lateral rectus motoneurones identified antidromically in the principal abducens nucleus and from retractor bulbi motoneurones similarly identified in the accessory abducens nucleus. EPSPs (3 mV) were recorded in lateral rectus motoneurones following electrical stimulation of the ipsilateral vibrissal pad at a latency of 3.5 ms. Large-amplitude disynaptic EPSPs (15 mV) were recorded in retractor bulbi motoneurones following the same vibrissal stimulation. The synaptic excitation evoked in both lateral rectus and retractor bulbi motoneurones through stimulation of the ipsilateral vibrissal pad induced an early retraction followed by an abduction of the eye ball. The hypothesis is that the vibrissal message might complement other sensory modalities in the generation of patterned eye movements.

Horizontal vestibular nystagmus. I. Identification of medial vestibular neurones.

Summary1.The properties of inputs from the horizontal semi-circular canal to neurones of the medial vestibular nucleus have been studied intracellularly in the unanaesthetized encéphale isolé cat.2.Secondary neurones of the vestibulo-abducens reflex arc were identified by their orthodromic response to labyrinthine stimulation and by antidromic excitation from the contralateral abducens nucleus.3.The responses of medial vestibular cells receiving only labyrinthine inputs are also described. These were seen to be predominantly excitatory though IPSPs were observed in a few cases.4.Identified vestibular neurones were intracellularly injected with procion yellow and showed different morphological characteristics correlated with function.

Postnatal development of α- and γ-peroneal motoneurons in kittens: an ultrastructural study

Abstract Motoneurons innervating the peroneus brevis muscle of 1 week- and 3 week-old kittens were retrogradely labelled by HRP and examined by electron microscopy. At 1 week the distribution of mean cell body diameters was unimodal. Consequently α- and γ-motoneurons could not be identified by their size. The aim of this study was to see whether the α- and γ-motoneurons of kittens could be identified using the combination of ultrastructural criteria previously defined in the adult cat. Using these three criteria it was not possible to distinguish all the motoneurons as either α- or γ in the kitten and a fourth criterion (frequency of F bouton profiles) was added to aid identification. However, with these four criteria, at 1 week six of 21 motoneurons and at 3 weeks two of 18 could still not be clearly identified as α or γ (four were tentatively considered to be γ, and four could not be identified). The maturation of α-motoneurons between 1 week and the adult was accompanied by an increase in somatic membrane area and a significant decrease in the somatic packing density of F boutons. On γ-motoneurons there was a decrease in the somatic packing density of F boutons between 1 and 3 weeks. However, the numbers of F and S boutons remained stable for both motoneuron types. Age-related changes in apposition and active zone lengths of F and S boutons characterize the synaptic rearrangements which are occurring during the postnatal development of motoneurons.

Gaba-like immunoreactive terminals on lumbar motoneurons of the adult cat. A quantitative ultrastructural study.

The aim of this ultrastructural study was to analyse quantitatively the distribution of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-like immunoreactivity in axon terminals apposed to somatic and proximal dendritic membranes of cat motoneurons in lumbar column 2. Preembedding immunocytochemistry was used to count the GABAergic terminals contacting profiles of eighteen alpha-and six gamma-motoneurons. Of the 1293 terminals counted on the somatic and proximal dendritic compartments of alpha-motoneurons, 197 were GABAergic. In contrast, a total number of only 62 terminals were counted on gamma-motoneurons, of which 8 were GABAergic. These populations of GABAergic terminals were less numerous than the population of glycinergic terminals observed in a previous study. The morphometric characteristics of GABAergic synapses were analyzed using postembedding immunocytochemistry. Most of the GABAergic terminals contained pleomorphic vesicles (F-type boutons, flattened or pleomorphic vesicles). All terminals presynaptic (P boutons) to large terminals containing sphericle vesicles (M-type boutons, characteristic of alpha-motoneurons), were GABA-immunopositive. These results suggest that there are different distributions of the GABAergic control of excitability on gamma- and alpha-motoneurons. GABA appears to be strongly involved in post-synaptic inhibition of alpha-motoneurons, whereas gamma-motoneurons receive very few GABAergic inhibitory inputs. Morphological correlates of GABAergic presynaptic inhibition were seen on alpha- but not on gamma-motoneurons.