Axonal projections and connections of the principal sensory trigeminal nucleus in the monkey

Abstract

To date, anatomical studies of ascending principal sensory trigeminal nuclear (PrV) axons in the monkey have been restricted to few incomplete investigations utilizing the Marchi method. In the present study total or partial unilateral stereotaxic lesions of PrV were made in cebus and rhesus monkeys and analyzed with the aid of a variety of Nauta silver impregnation techniques applied to frozen sections. Analysis of the fiber degeneration emanating from PrV lesions indicates that PrV fibers from an ascending system composed of two distinct components. Most PrV axons project ventromedially from PrV through the ventral pontine tegmentum and gradually decussate across the midline in the mesencephalic tegmentum up to the level of the caudal pole of nucleus interpeduncularis. These decussated fibers form the trigeminal lemniscus, which courses dorsomedial to the medial lemniscus during its ascent into the diencephalon. A few whorls of preterminal fiber degeneration separating from the trigeminal lemniscus first appear in the magnocellular area of the thalamus medial to the medial geniculate body. The lemniscal PrV axons terminate densely throughout most, but not all, of the magnocellular part of nucleus ventralis posteromedialis (VPM) contralateral to the side of their origin. Some collateral‐like fibers from the trigeminal lemniscus also were observed ending in the ventral segment of the zona incerta. Other axons, arising chiefly from the dorsal one‐third of PrV, form a smaller ipsilateral trigeminothalamic projection. These fibers all remain on the side of their origin and terminate consistently in a discrete dorsomedial paralaminar portion of VPM that does not receive lemniscal PrV connections. A commissural fiber system at the pontine level connects parvicellular reticular cells with their counterparts and the motor trigeminal nucleus of the opposite side. These interconnections appear to provide an anatomical link for the integration of bilateral trigeminal sensory information and motor function.