Thoracolumbar sympathetic preganglionic neurons in the dorsal commissural nucleus of the male rat: an immunohistochemical study using retrograde labeling of cholera toxin subunit B.

The cell morphology of sympathetic preganglionic neurons (SPNs) in the dorsal commissural nucleus was studied by the retrograde labeling technique using cholera toxin subunit B (CTb) as a tracer. A small amount of an aqueous solution of CTb was injected unilaterally into the major pelvic ganglion of the male rat. Labeled SPNs were detected immunohistochemically using anti-CTb antiserum. Most of the labeled SPNs were observed in L1 to L3, and a very small number in T13. They were observed bilaterally in the sympathetic nuclei, such as the intermediolateral cell column, intercalated nucleus and the dorsal commissural nucleus. A loose network of longitudinally or transversely oriented SPN dendrites was located within the dorsal commissural nucleus itself. The lateral margin of the dorsal commissural nucleus was roughly demarcated by longitudinally oriented dendrites. Together with the dendrites of the SPNs of the intercalated and intermediolateral cell column, laterally oriented dendrites of the dorsal commissural nucleus converged and formed the transverse dendritic bundles in the intermediate zone that connect the dorsal commissural nucleus and the intermediolateral cell column. The transverse dendritic bundles were arranged periodically. The axons of the SPNs in the dorsal commissural nucleus traveled laterally into the transverse dendritic bundles, then turned ventrally near the intermediolateral cell column, and finally entered the ventral funiculus. After rhizotomy of the ventral roots of the upper lumbar cord, labeled SPNs were found only on the side contralateral to the rhizotomy. The dorsal commissural nucleus appears as a compact single cell column, but our results clearly show that this nucleus actually consists of two adjacent parallel columns of cells.