Postnatal changes of local neuronal circuits involved in activation of jaw-closing muscles

Feeding behaviour in mammals changes from suckling to mastication during postnatal development and the neuronal circuits controlling feeding behaviour should change in parallel to the development of orofacial structures. In this review we discuss the location of excitatory premotor neurons for jaw-closing motoneurons (JCMNs) and postnatal changes of excitatory synaptic transmission from the supratrigeminal region (SupV) to JCMNs. We show that neurons located in SupV and the reticular formation dorsal to the facial nucleus most likely excite JCMNs. Excitatory inputs from SupV to JCMNs are mediated by activation of glutamate and glycine receptors in neonatal rats, whereas glycinergic inputs from SupV to JCMNs become inhibitory with age. We also show that the incidence of post-spike afterdepolarization increases during postnatal development, whereas the amplitude and half-duration of the medium-duration afterhyperpolarization decrease with age. Such postnatal changes in synaptic transmission from SupV to JCMNs and membrane properties of JCMNs might be involved in the transition from suckling to mastication.