Morphology and distribution of serotoninergic and oculomotor internuclear neurons in the cat midbrain
Authors: May Paul J. , Baker Harriet , Vidal Pierre‐Paul , Spencer Robert F. , Baker Robert 
Published: January 2005

Serotoninergic fibers have been reported in both the abducens and facial nuclei of the cat. Furthermore, serotoninergic dorsal raphe and oculomotor internuclear neurons occupy similar locations in the periaqueductal gray overlying the oculomotor and trochlear motor nuclei. To resolve the issue of whether these two populations of neurons overlap, serotoninergic fibers were assayed in the abducens and facial nucleus; then the morphologies and distributions of identified serotoninergic neurons and oculomotor internuclear neurons were determined.

Both the abducens and facial nuclei contained varicosities labelled with antibody to serotonin, but a much higher density of immunoreactive fibers was present in the latter, especially in its medial aspect. Distinct synaptic profiles labelled with antibodies to serotonin were observed in both nuclei. In both cases, terminal profiles contained numerous small, predominantly spheroidal, synaptic vesicles as well as a few, large, dense‐core vesicles. These profiles made synaptic contacts onto dendritic and, in the facial nucleus, somatic profiles that occasionally displayed asymmetric, postsynaptic, membrane densifications.

Following injection of horseradish peroxidase into either the abducens or facial nuclei, double‐label immunohistochemical techniques demonstrated that the serotoninergic and oculomotor internuclear neurons form two distinct cell populations. The immunoreactive serotoninergic cells were distributed within the dorsal raphe nucleus, predominantly caudal to the retrogradely labelled oculomotor internuclear neurons. The latter were located in the oculomotor nucleus along its dorsal border and in the adjacent supraoculomotor area.

Intracellular injection of horseradish peroxidase revealed that oculomotor internuclear neurons have multipolar somata with up to ten long, tapering dendrites that bifurcate approximately five times. Their dendritic fields were generally contained within the nucleus and adjacent supraoculomotor area. In contrast, putative serotoninergic neurons were often spindle‐shaped and exhibited far fewer primary dendrites. Many of these long, narrow, sparsely branched dendrites crossed the midline and extended to the surface of the cerebral aqueduct. In the vicinity of the aqueduct they branched repeatedly to form a dendritic thicket. The axons of the intracellularly stained serotoninergic neurons emerged either from the somata or the end of a process with dendritic morphology, and in some cases they produced axon collaterals within the periaqueductal gray.

Thus the oculomotor internuclear and serotoninergic populations differ in both distribution and morphology. Although the definitive origin of the serotoninergic input to either the abducens or facial nucleus could not be established, this study suggests that neither the oculomotor internuclear nor the dorsal raphe neurons provide the serotoninergic terminal observed in the abducens and facial nuclei. The relationship of the morphology of these cell populations to their putative functions and the relationship of serotoninergic synaptic ultrastructure to the role of serotonin in motor nuclei is discussed in the light of recent physiological observations.