Localisation of recurrent laryngeal nerve motoneurons in the sheep by means of retrograde fluorescent labelling.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the central distribution of the efferent neurons of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) in the sheep by the use of the retrograde transport of the fluorescent tracer Fast Blue. The distribution of the RLN neurons was also compared with that of the neurons simultaneously labelled by injection of another tracer, Diamidino Yellow dihydrochloride, into the cervical trunk of the vagus nerve (CTV). Injections of the tracer into the CTV resulted in heavy retrograde labelling of neurons in the ipsilateral dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve, in the nucleus ambiguus, in the nucleus retroambigualis and in the reticular formation surrounding the nucleus ambiguus.

The mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus of the duck: development and apoptosis.

The normal development of the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (MesV) of the white Peking duck (Anas platyrhynchos) was studied from the 9th day of incubation until hatching and during adulthood. In the early days of embryonic development, neurons are present in the posterior commissure and in the mesenchymal tissue outside the leptomeninges in addition to those in the tectal commissure (TC) and in the optic tectum. Following the internucleosomal cleavage of DNA, a massive loss of neurons in the MesV starts in the 11-day embryo and continues until the 15th day of incubation.

Selective deafferentation of hand cutaneous territory is followed by changes in fibre type distribution of a forearm muscle in the horse.

Based on previous observations that capsaicin can selectively damage group III and IV afferents and induce muscle fibre transformation, we hypothesized that eliminating, by means of capsaicin, the group III and IV afferents of a peripheral territory it could lead to a fibre transformation in a muscle involved in the flexor reflexes of the same peripheral territory. Therefore, capsaicin was injected into the palmar nerves of the forelimb of the horse to investigate if eliminating group III and IV afferents from the hand of the horse a muscle fibre transition would occur in the flexor carpi radialis (FCR) muscle, which is involved in the flexor reflexes of the finger itself. 120 days after capsaicin injection, type I slow fibres increased and type IIA fast fibres decreased.

Viscerotopic representation of the subdiaphragmatic tracts of the digestive apparatus within the vagus complex in the sheep.

The distribution in the brainstem and cervical spinal cord of neurons supplying the reticulum and the reticular groove, the rumen, the omasum, the abomasum, and the small and large intestine was investigated in the sheep using the fluorescent retrograde tracer technique. Only the reticulum and reticular groove were represented in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve (DMNX), in the nucleus ambiguus (NA), and in the nucleus retroambigualis (NRA). The other forestomach, the abomasum and the small intestine were supplied by the DMNX only, with the exception of the rumen which was also innervated by the NRA.

Nerve fiber composition of the intracranial portion of the oculomotor, trochlear, and abducens nerves in the sheep.

In the present investigation, the fiber content and the diameter spectra of the intracranial portion of the three oculomotor nerves (oculomotor, trochlear, and abducens nerves) were analysed in sheep by light and electron microscopy. It was determined that up to 14.98% of fibers in the oculomotor nerve, 17.