Ultrastructural demonstration of a projection from the flocculus to the nucleus prepositus hypoglossi in the cat.

Small electrolytic lesions were made in the flocculus of two adult cats by means of a stereotactic approach avoiding any damage to the cerebellar nuclei. After a survival time of 3 days the animals were killed and the brains fixed and prepared according to standard procedures for ultrastructural studies. The brains of two unoperated cats were similarly treated and served as normal controls. In the experimental animals a large number of boutons in the rostral part of the nucleus prepositus hypoglossi (Ph) ipsilateral to the floccular lesion showed degenerative changes. These were characterized by hypertrophy, a prominent aggregation of densely packed parallel tubules or concentric arrays of cisternae and a filamentous hyperplasia. Only very rarely were such abnormal boutons seen in the caudal half of the ipsilateral Ph, or on the contralateral side or in the unoperated animals. The degenerating boutons contain clusters of pleomorphic vesicles and they establish symmetrical synaptic contacts with somata, dendritic shafts and dendritic spines. Some of the degenerating boutons appear to be of the en passant type. These findings thus affirm the existence of a direct flocculo-prepositus projection in the cat. It is suggested that this pathway could be responsible for mediating information about eye position and velocity to Ph neurons.