Neuronal cell death and population dynamics in the developing rat geniculate ganglion

In contrast to many neuronal systems, the pattern of developmental neuronal degeneration in the rat geniculate ganglion has remained undefined. To address this issue sectioned geniculate ganglia from embryonic day 13 to postnatal day 3 have been examined using standard histological techniques, TdT-mediated dUTP-digoxigenin nick end labeling to verify apoptotic activity, bromo-deoxyuridine incorporation to monitor neuronal precursor proliferation, and anti-beta-neurotubulin III to verify the neuronal identity of pycnotic cells. Results summed from alternate (embryonic day 13) or every third (embryonic day 14-postnatal day 3) section show that neuronal degeneration occurs as early as embryonic day 13 (6.8% of neurons counted), well before geniculate innervation of lingual taste buds at embryonic day 16. A degenerative peak occurs at embryonic day 17 (9.5%) followed by a decline (1.7% at embryonic day 18) and leveling off (0.1%-0.2% at embryonic day 22-postnatal day 3). Thus, geniculate neuronal degenerative pattern includes both innervation-associated histogenetic and morphogenetic cell death. Corresponding counts of mean neuronal numbers in the sections showed a continual rise from embryonic day 13 through embryonic day 18 (approx. 330-760) followed by a slight decline at embryonic day 19 (to approx. 630) and then a final leveling off at 800-825 by embryonic day 20. This pattern differs from many other developing neural systems which show a major population crash during initial target contact. It likely reflects different but slightly overlapping neuronal precursor proliferation and degeneration patterns in multiple geniculate neuronal subpopulations.