The ansa cervicalis and the infrahyoid muscles of the rat. II. Motor and sensory neurons.

Perikarya of motoneurons and spinal ganglion cells attributed to infrahyoid muscle nerves of the rat were labelled by retrogradely transported horseradish peroxidase (HRP). For the differentiation of motor and sensory axons cross sections of the nerves were stained for acetylcholinesterase. Numbers and diameter distributions of perikarya and myelinated axons were determined. Motoneuronal perikarya innervating the infrahyoid muscles are located from the transition zone brain stem/spinal cord to the segment C 3. They are found mostly in the medial part of the Rexed laminae VII and VIII at the level of C 1 and C 2 and more ventrolaterally in C 3 and are therefore located to a large extent in areas until now not recognized to contain motoneurons. Our results provide evidence for a somatotopic organization of the motoneurons in the upper cervical spinal cord. The diameter distributions of motoneuronal perikarya and axons are in most cases bimodal, the two modes corresponding to alpha- and gamma-motoneurons. In relation to the diameters of their perikarya alpha-axons are significantly thicker than gamma-axons. In contrast to the motoneurons no clear correlation could be established between the sizes of perikarya of spinal ganglion cells and their peripheral processes.