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Distinction in the immunoreactivities of two calcium‐binding proteins and neuronal birthdates in the first and higher‐order somatosensory thalamic nuclei of mice: Evolutionary implications
Author(s) -
Zhang JiangYan,
Lin YuTao,
Gao YuanYuan,
Zhang XueBo,
Zhang XinWen,
Zeng ShaoJu
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.23813
Subject(s) - biology , parvalbumin , thalamus , neuroscience , somatosensory system , thalamic reticular nucleus , nucleus , neurogenesis , dorsal column nuclei , anatomy
Comparative embryonic studies are the most effective way to discern phylogenetic changes. To gain insight into the constitution and evolution of mammalian somatosensory thalamic nuclei, we first studied how calbindin (CB) and parvalbumin (PV) immunoreactivities appear during embryonic development in the first‐order relaying somatosensory nuclei, i.e., the ventral posteromedial (VPM) and posterolateral (VPL) nuclei, and their neighboring higher‐order modulatory regions, including the ventromedial or ventrolateral nucleus, posterior, and the reticular nucleus. The results indicated that cell bodies that were immunoreactive for CB were found earlier (embryonic day 12 [E12]) in the dorsal thalamus than were cells positive for PV (E14), and the adult somatosensory thalamus was characterized by complementary CB and PV distributions with PV dominance in the first‐order relaying nuclei and CB dominance in the higher‐order regions. We then labeled proliferating cells with [ 3 H]‐thymidine from E11 to 19 and found that the onset of neurogenesis began later (E12) in the first‐order relaying nuclei than in the higher‐order regions (E11). Using double‐labeling with [ 3 H]‐thymidine autoradiography and CB or PV immunohistochemistry, we found that CB neurons were born earlier (E11–12) than PV neurons (E12–13) in the studied areas. Thus, similar to auditory nuclei, the first and the higher‐order somatosensory nuclei exhibited significant distinctions in CB/PV immunohistochemistry and birthdates during embryonic development. These data, combined with the results of a cladistic analysis of the thalamic somatosensory nuclei, are discussed from an evolutionary perspective of sensory nuclei. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:2738–2751, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.