Differential Projection of the Rostral and Caudal Superior Cervical Ganglionin the Brainstem and Spinal Cord

• Main Authors: Hsiao-Chun Chi, 紀曉君
• Other Authors: FENG-BIN WANG
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/90481177263629726522

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 心理學所 === 95 === The sympathetic nervous system mediates the neural control mechanism for the fight-or-flight response, which increases the activities of the cardiovascular system and decreases those of the gastrointestinal tract. Superior cervical ganglion (SCG) connects to the head and neck areas and is the largest one of the cervical sympathetic ganglia. Our recent tracing showed that the rat SCG receives preganglionic neurons from intermediate reticular nuclei in the brainstem and from the spinal cord ranging from C1 to C4 and from T1 to T4. In the present study, we injected WGA-HRP into either the rostral part (n=7) or the caudal part (n=7) of the SCG in the rat (male Sprague-Dawley) to further differentiate the detailed distribution topography of their preganglionic neurons. Systematical sections of the brainstem and spinal cord and the superior, medial, and inferior cervical ganglia with the connecting sympathetic trunks were prepared. The distribution and number of preganglionic neurons labeled from rostral SCG injection were only located in the brainstem (20±11) and cervical segment 1 and 2 (C1:20±14; C2: 23±21). The caudal SCG injection labeled preganglionic neurons mainly in the thoracic segments 1 and 2, with the number of 20±9 in T1 and 34±14 in T2. The fact that the rostral and caudal SCG have a rostro-to-rostral and caudo-to-caudal projection pattern in their preganglionic neurons indicates that the rostral and caudal SCG have a functional differentiation.