Retrograde tracing of medial vestibular nuclei connections to the kidney in mice.

Vestibular nuclei have been identified as a uniform multifunctional structure in order to maintain physiological homeostasis, including the participation of renal sympathetic activity. In this study, the medial vestibular nuclei (MVe) of 10 adult male C57BL/6J strain mice were mapped retrograde using injections of pseudorabies virus (PRV)-614. The virus, injected into the kidney, was specifically transported to the medial vestibular nuclei (MVe). We used a fluorescence immunohistochemistry to characterize the chemical neuroanatomical substrate of MVe innervating the kidney in the mouse. At five days after PRV-614 injection in the kidney, PRV-614 infected neurons were retrogradely labeled in MVeMC and MVePC; PRV-614/tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) double-labeled neurons located predominantly in MVeMC and not in MVePC, whereas PRV-614/tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) neurons were not localized in MVeMC and MVePC. Our results revealed direct neuroanatomical evidence to identify catecholaminergic projections from the MVeMC to the kidney, suggesting that medial vestibulo-renal pathway may be catecholaminergic.