An electrophysiological and anatomical study of projections to the mouse cortical barrelfield and its surroundings

1985 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 686-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Nussbaumer ◽  
H. Van der Loos

This study establishes a cortical map of the somatosensory periphery of the mouse head, with emphasis on the whisker pad. Data in the literature on the projection of the common hair follicles are confusing, notably the question whether or not this projection is separated from or overlaps with that of the facial vibrissae, the barrelfield. Microelectrode recordings in the barrelfield and its immediate surroundings upon natural stimulation of the periphery were followed by microlesions and histological reconstruction. Results show that the barrelfield consists of two parts: an anterior part where vibrissal follicles and the skin bearing them are represented, and a posterior part receiving only vibrissa inputs. The skin between these latter vibrissae is represented outside the barrelfield. We conclude that the partially dissociated cortical representation of skin and vibrissae may allow large vibrissae to be used in tasks requiring greater acuity than the shorter ones provide. This hypothesis is supported by the observation that, owing to special muscles, large vibrissae are more mobile than short ones. We also propose that the segregation of inputs from vibrissae and common fur is related to the number of nerve fibers serving one follicle, and we indicate an experimental model to test this possibility.

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. ons7-ons15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Song-tao ◽  
Zhang Xi-an ◽  
Fan Jun ◽  
Huang Guang-long ◽  
Pan Jun ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND: The distribution of the arachnoid membrane and its relationship with the neurovascular structures in the pineal region are still not fully understood. OBJECTIVE: Because the arachnoid membrane has an intimate relationship with the neurovascular structures in the pineal region and it will always be encountered surgically, we attempted to clarify the formation and distribution of the arachnoid envelope over the pineal region (AEPG). METHODS: The formation and distribution of the AEPG and its relationship with the neurovascular structures in the pineal region were examined by anatomic dissection in 20 adult cadaveric formalin-fixed heads. RESULTS: The supratentorial and infratentorial outer arachnoid membranes converged at the tentorial apex and then embraced and ran forward along the vein of Galen to form the AEPG. The AEPG could be divided into 2 parts. Typically, the posterior part of the AEPG enveloped the vein of Galen and the terminal segments of its tributaries, and the anterior part of the AEPG enveloped the suprapineal recess, the pineal gland, and the distal segment of the internal cerebral veins. The compartment demarcated by the AEPG did not communicate with the adjacent subarachnoid cisterns or space. CONCLUSION: Previous knowledge about the AEPG, as well as the superior boundary and the contents of the quadrigeminal cistern, needs to be revised. The arrangement and individual variation of AEPG are important for a better understanding of the various growth patterns of the pineal tumors and the relationship between the tumor and the neurovascular structures in the pineal region.


1989 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 1383-1386 ◽  
Author(s):  
U Dhall ◽  
G Burnstock

We studied the distribution pattern of serotonin-like immunoreactive nerve fibers in the major cerebral vessels of rabbit by an indirect immunofluorescence technique using whole-mount stretch preparations. The density of serotonin-like immunoreactive nerve fibers was greater in vessels of the posterior part of the circle of Willis compared with that in the anterior part. This is in contrast to most of the observations reported previously regarding adrenergic, cholinergic, and peptidergic innervation of the circle of Willis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangjun Lee ◽  
Jimin Park ◽  
Jinuk Kwon ◽  
Dong Hwan Kim ◽  
Chang-Hwan Im

AbstractTransorbital electrical stimulation (tES) has been studied as a new noninvasive method for treating intractable eye diseases by delivering weak electrical current to the eye through a pair of electrodes attached to the skin around the eye. Studies have reported that the therapeutic effect of tES is determined by the effective stimulation of retinal cells that are densely distributed in the posterior part of the retina. However, in conventional tES with a pair of electrodes, a greater portion of the electric field is delivered to the anterior part of the retina. In this study, to address this issue, a new electrode montage with multiple electrodes was proposed for the effective delivery of electric fields to the posterior retina. Electric field analysis based on the finite element method was performed with a realistic human head model, and optimal injection currents were determined using constrained convex optimization. The resultant electric field distributions showed that the proposed multi-channel tES enables a more effective stimulation of the posterior retina than the conventional tES with a pair of electrodes.


Author(s):  
Len Wen-Yung ◽  
Mei-Jung Lin

Four cone-shaped rectal papillae locate at the anterior part of the rectum in Dacus dorsalis fly. The circular base of the papilla protrudes into the haemolymph (Fig. 1,2) and the rest cone-shaped tip (Fig. 2) inserts in the rectal lumen. The base is surrounded with the cuticle (Fig. 5). The internal structure of the rectal papilla (Fig. 3) comprises of the cortex with the columnar epithelial cells and a rod-shaped medulla. Between them, there is the infundibular space and many trabeculae connect each other. Several tracheae insert into the papilla through the top of the medulla, then run into the cortical epithelium and locate in the intercellular space. The intercellular sinuses distribute in the posterior part of the rectal papilla.The cortex of the base divides into about thirty segments. Between segments there is a radial cell (Fig. 4). Under the cuticle, the apical cell membrane of the cortical epithelium is folded into a regular border of leaflets (Fig. 5).


2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
pp. 902-911
Author(s):  
Laszlo Barany ◽  
Cintia Meszaros ◽  
Oliver Ganslandt ◽  
Michael Buchfelder ◽  
Peter Kurucz

OBJECTIVEThe septum pellucidum is a bilateral thin membranous structure representing the border between the frontal horns of the lateral ventricles. Its most examined components are the septal veins due to their surgical importance during endoscopic septum pellucidotomy (ESP), which is a well-accepted method for surgical treatment of unilateral hydrocephalus. It is widely accepted that the septum pellucidum contains nerve fibers as well, but interestingly, no anatomical study has been addressed to its neural components before. The aim of the present study was to identify these elements as well as their relations to the septal veins and to define major landmarks within the ventricular system for neurosurgical use.METHODSNine formalin-fixed human cadaveric brains (18 septa pellucida) were involved in this study. A central block containing both septa pellucida was removed and frozen at −30°C for 2 weeks in 7 cases. The fibers of the septum pellucidum and the adjacent areas including the venous elements were dissected under magnification by using homemade wooden spatulas and microsurgical instruments. In 2 cases a histological technique was used to validate the findings of the dissections. The blocks were sliced, embedded in paraffin, cut in 7-µm-thick slices, and then stained as follows: 1) with H & E, 2) with Luxol fast blue combined with cresyl violet, and 3) with Luxol fast blue combined with Sirius red.RESULTSThe septum pellucidum and the subjacent septum verum form the medial wall of the frontal horn of the lateral ventricle. Both structures contain nerve fibers that were organized in 3 groups: 1) the precommissural fibers of the fornix; 2) the inferior fascicle; and 3) the superior fascicle of the septum pellucidum. The area directly rostral to the postcommissural column of the fornix consisted of macroscopically identifiable gray matter corresponding to the septal nuclei. The histological examinations validated the findings of the authors’ fiber dissections.CONCLUSIONSThe nerve elements of the septum pellucidum as well as the subjacent septum verum were identified with fiber dissection and verified with histology for the first time. The septal nuclei located just anterior to the fornix and the precommissural fibers of the fornix should be preserved during ESP. Considering the venous anatomy as well as the neural architecture of the septum pellucidum, the fenestration should ideally be placed above the superior edge of the fornix and preferably dorsal to the interventricular foramen.


Author(s):  
Paweł Szaro ◽  
Khaldun Ghali Gataa ◽  
Mateusz Polaczek

Abstract Purpose The aim of the study was to examine the ligaments of the os trigonum. Methods The ankle joint magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of 104 patients with the os trigonum (experimental group) and 104 patients without the os trigonum (control group) were re-reviewed. The connections of the os trigonum and posterior talofibular ligament (PTFL), the fibulotalocalcaneal ligament (FTCL), the paratenon of the Achilles tendon, the posterior talocalcaneal ligament (PTCL), the osteofibrous tunnel of the flexor hallucis longus (OF-FHL) and the flexor retinaculum (FR) were studied. Results The os trigonum is connected to structures. The posterior part of the PTFL inserted on the os trigonum in 85.6% of patients, whereas in all patients in the control group, the posterior part of the PTFL inserted on the posterior talar process (p < 0.05). The connection of the PTCL was seen in 94.2% of patients in the experimental group, while it was seen in 90.4% of patients in the control group (p > 0.05). The connection to the FTCL in the experimental group was 89.4%, while in the control group, it was 91.3% (p > 0.05). The communication with the paratenon was seen more often in the control group compared to that in the experimental group (31.7% vs. 63.8%, p < 0.001). The FTCL was prolonged medially into the FR in 85.6% of patients in the experimental group and in 87.5% of patients in the control group (p > 0.05). The flexor hallucis longus (FHL) run at the level of articulation between the os trigonum 63.5% and the posterior process of the talus 25% and less often on the os trigonum 11.5%. Conclusion The os trigonum is connected with all posterior ankle structures and more connections than previously reported.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Shulgach ◽  
Dylan W. Beam ◽  
Ameya C. Nanivadekar ◽  
Derek M. Miller ◽  
Stephanie Fulton ◽  
...  

AbstractDysfunction and diseases of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are a major driver of medical care. The vagus nerve innervates and controls multiple organs of the GI tract and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) could provide a means for affecting GI function and treating disease. However, the vagus nerve also innervates many other organs throughout the body, and off-target effects of VNS could cause major side effects such as changes in blood pressure. In this study, we aimed to achieve selective stimulation of populations of vagal afferents using a multi-contact cuff electrode wrapped around the abdominal trunks of the vagus nerve. Four-contact nerve cuff electrodes were implanted around the dorsal (N = 3) or ventral (N = 3) abdominal vagus nerve in six ferrets, and the response to stimulation was measured via a 32-channel microelectrode array (MEA) inserted into the left or right nodose ganglion. Selectivity was characterized by the ability to evoke responses in MEA channels through one bipolar pair of cuff contacts but not through the other bipolar pair. We demonstrated that it was possible to selectively activate subpopulations of vagal neurons using abdominal VNS. Additionally, we quantified the conduction velocity of evoked responses to determine what types of nerve fibers (i.e., Aδ vs. C) responded to stimulation. We also quantified the spatial organization of evoked responses in the nodose MEA to determine if there is somatotopic organization of the neurons in that ganglion. Finally, we demonstrated in a separate set of three ferrets that stimulation of the abdominal vagus via a four-contact cuff could selectively alter gastric myoelectric activity, suggesting that abdominal VNS can potentially be used to control GI function.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 171288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander L. Vereshchaka ◽  
Anastasia A. Lunina ◽  
Jørgen Olesen

Species within Gennadas differ from each other largely only in male (petasma) and female (thelycum) copulatory characters, which were restudied in scanning electron microscopy and used as a basis for phylogenetic analyses. Twenty-six petasma characters and 49 thelycum characters were identified. All 16 recognized species of Gennadas and Aristaeomorpha foliacea (outgroup) were included as terminals. Four robust monophyletic clades were retrieved, described and diagnosed as new species groups. The thelycum characters had greater impact on tree topology and supported deeper nodes than did the petasma characters. We hypothesize that features of the thelycum evolved first followed by aspects of the petasma. Relatively more conservative characters include parts of the sternites of the thelycum and of the petasma, while the scuti and protuberances on the thelycum and the shape and subdivisions of the petasma lobes are evolutionarily plastic. We identified two groups of copulatory characters, which are likely coupled functionally and interlinked evolutionarily: (i) the external part of the petasma and the posterior part of the thelycum and (ii) the internal part of the petasma and anterior part of the thelycum. We reconstruct possible mating position during copulation for each of the new species groups presented here. We also present an updated key to genera of Benthesicymidae and key to species of Gennadas .


It was shown in an earlier paper (7) that if maximal stimulation of either of two different afferent nerves can reflexly excite fractions of a given flexor muscle, there are generally, within the aggregate of neurones which innervate that muscle, motoneurones which can be caused to discharge by either afferent (i. e., motoneurones common to both fractions). The relationship which two such afferents bear to a common motoneurone was shown, by the isometric method of recording contraction, to be such that the activation of one afferent, at a speed sufficient to cause a maximal motor tetanus when trans­mitted to the muscle fibres, caused exclusion of any added mechanical effect when the other afferent was excited concurrently. This default in mechanical effect was called “occlusion.” Occlusion may conceivably be due to total exclusion of the effect of one afferent pathway on the common motoneurone by the activity of the other; but facilitation of the effect of one path by the activation of the other when the stimuli were minimal suggests that, in some circumstances at least, the effect of each could augment and summate with th at of the other at the place of convergence of two afferent pathways. Further investigation, using the action currents of the muscle as indication of the nerve impulses discharged by the motoneurone units, has now given some information regarding the effect of impulses arriving at the locus of convergence by one afferent path when the unit common to both is already discharging in response to impulses arriving by the other afferent path. Our method has been to excite both afferent nerves in overlapping sequence by series of break shocks at a rapid rate and to examine the action currents of the resulting reflex for evidence of the appearance of the rhythm of the second series in the discharge caused by the first when the two series are both reaching the motoneurone.


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