Central projections and connections of lumbar primary afferent fibers in adult rats: effectively revealed using Texas red-dextran amine tracing.

ABSTRACT: Signals from lumbar primary afferent fibers are important for modulating locomotion of the hind-limbs. However, silver impregnation techniques, autoradiography, wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase and cholera toxin B subunit-horseradish peroxidase cannot image the central projections and connections of the dorsal root in detail. Thus, we injected 3-kDa Texas red-dextran amine into the proximal trunks of L4 dorsal roots in adult rats. Confocal microscopy results revealed that numerous labeled arborizations and varicosities extended to the dorsal horn from T12-S4, to Clarke's column from T10-L2, and to the ventral horn from L1-5. The labeled varicosities at the L4 cord level were very dense, particularly in laminae I-III, and the density decreased gradually in more rostral and cauda

SUBMITTER: Lin SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5696851 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature