A study on the spinoreticulocerebellar tract in chickens

The spinoreticulocerebellar (SRC) tract is an indirect spinocerebellar tract formed by the reticular formation (RF), which is connected to the cerebellum and spinal cord. The RF receives ascending fibers to both the spinal enlargement and sends descending fibers to the cerebellum. This study demonstrated that the connectivity of the neurons in the RF is concerned to the cerebellum and spinal cord using the anterograde projection with biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) and retrograde labeling with wheatgerm agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP). Until now, a preliminary study in mammals has dealt with the afferent and efferent pathways in separating groups of neurons in the RF. There are only few reports on chickens. This study examined the SRC tract in chickens. Following bilateral injections we injected BDA into chicken spinal cord (lumbosacral enlargement) and WGA-HRP into the cerebellum. Both of single- and double-labeled cells were found within the RF. The spinoreticular axons were mainly distributed from the potomedullary junction to the rostral medulla in the rostro-caudally RF levels, for example, nucleus of reticularis (n. r.) pontis oralis,locus coeruleus, n. r. pontis caudalis, n. r. pars gigantocellularis, n. r. gigantocellularis and n. r. parvocellularis. Reticulocerebellar labeling by the WGA-HRP was found in the same place as well as that of the BDA-projection. We observed that the proportion and location of double labeling cells in the chicken were almost similar in each level, comparing to the rodents. These results suggest that the reticular formation is strongly related to the spinoreticulocerebellar tract in chickens.