Collateral projections of trigeminal ganglion neurons to both the principal sensory trigeminal and the spinal trigeminal nuclei in the rat

Employing a combination of fluorescent retro grade double labelling and immunofluorescence histo chemistry for substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-relat ed peptide (CGRP), we examined collateral projections from single neurons in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) of the rat to both the principal sensory trigeminal nucleus (Vp) and the oral, interpolar or caudal subnuclei of the spinal trigeminal nucleus (Vo, Vi or Vc). In the rats that were unilaterally injected with fast blue (FB) into the Vp and with diamidino yellow (DY) into the Vo, Vi or Vc, neurons labelled with FB and/or DY were observed in the TG ipsilateral to the injections. Of the labelled TG neurons, about 2% were double labelled with both trac ers in the rats that were injected with FB into the Vp and with DY into the Vo or Vi, and about 10% were double labelled in the rats that were injected with FB into the Vp and with DY into the Vc. The results indicate that TG neurons sending their axons to the Vp project, by way of axon collaterals, to the Vc more frequently than to the Vo or Vi.Some of the TG neurons double labelled with FB and DY exhibited SP-or CGRP-like immunoreactivity (LI): Of the TG neurons that were double labelled with FB injected into the Vp and with DY injected into the Vo, Vi or Vc, about 38%, 49% and 42%, respectively, displayed SP-LI, and about 54%, 58% and 59%, respectively, showed CGRP-LI. Some of the SP-or CGRP-LI TG neurons that were double labelled with FB and DY were assumed to mediate pain signals to both the Vp and the spinal trigeminal nucleus (Vo, Vi and/or Vc) by way of axon collaterals.Yun-Qing Li is on leave from the Department of Anatomy, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xian, People's Republic of China