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The neural structure of Clarke's nucleus of the spinal cord ,
Author(s) -
Boehme Cameron Catlin
Publication year - 1968
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.901320306
Subject(s) - nucleus , dorsal column nuclei , anatomy , spinal cord , french horn , dorsum , biology , axon , neuroscience , physics , acoustics
Abstract The neural elements of Clarke's nucleus stained by the Golgi method have been studied in the cat. Three types of cells are found: (1) large bodied cells with many dendrites and (2) small bodied cells with few dendrites. The dendritic arborizations of both types extend mainly in a longitudinal direction, remaining within the nucleus and spreading as far as one millimeter. (3) Large bodied cells are found which have, in addition to a longitudinally directed arborization in the nucleus, branches extending ventrally into the intermediate nucleus. In the nucleus are found dendrites of cells which lie outside it at the base of the dorsal horn and in the intermediate nucleus. Three sources of afferents to Clarke's nucleus are confirmed: (1) dorsal column collaterals which terminate in the nucleus as longitudinally running knobbed fibrils, (2) lateral column collaterals terminating in small end‐feet and (3) heavy caliber endogenous fibers, some or all of which are axons of cells located in the base of the dorsal horn, and which terminate as fine fibrils in small end‐feet. Some dorsal column collaterals to Clarke's nucleus have terminal branches in the base of the dorsal horn as well. It is confirmed that small synaptic knobs such as those from lateral column collaterals and from heavy caliber endogenous fibers contact the bodies of cells in Clarke's nucleus. The large knobs from dorsal column collaterals are found contacting dendrites.