| Abstract: | The course and distribution of rubral pathways to the pons and medulla were determined for the opossum by employing the Nauta-Gygax and Fink-Heimer techniques on the brain stems of animals with lesions either within the red nucleus or involving the fibers emanating from it. Control material was provided by previous studies on corticomesencephalic and tectal efferent pathways and by the brains of specimens subjected to deep midbrain lesion which did not involve the red nucleus. A predominantly crossed rubrobulbar pathway coursed through the brain stem as described by Voris and Hoerr ('32) and distributed to the nucleus “K” of Meessen and Olszewski ('49), to neurons interspersed between the fiber bundles of the motor root of the trigeminal nerve, to the parabrachial nucleus of the brachium conjunctivum, the parvocellular reticular formation, the ventral and medial portions of the spinal trigeminal nucleus (nucleus oralis and interpolaris), the lateral and intermediate portions of the motor nucleus of the facial nerve, the lateral reticular nucleus, the ventral external arcuate nucleus and the subnucleus reticularis dorsalis medullae oblongatae. The possible significance of these connections in the opossum is discussed. |
