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Published on: March 27, 2018
[A dopaminergic projection from the dorsal raphe nucleus to the inner ear]
Xin-Ming Yang1, Shu-Hui Wang, Yi-Da Yang
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Xiangya Second Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, China. x16y2003@yahoo.com.cn
Objective:
To investigate the efferent pathway from the dorsal raphe nucleus to the inner ear.
Methods:
Eleven adult cats weighing 2.0 - 3.0 kg were used. The animals had no middle-ear disease and their auricle reflex was sensitive to sound. They were divided into experimental group (8 cats) and control group (3 cases). The fluorescent tracer cholera toxin subunit-B (CTB) was injected into cat cochlea and the CTB-labelled neurons of dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) were identified using an immunofluorescence technique after a survival period of 7 days. For studying other fluorescence labelling, the sections containing CTB-labelled neurons were divided into four groups and incubated in antisera directed against tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), serotonin (5-HT), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and dopamine B-hydroxylase (DBH), respectively. Single-and double-labelled neurons were identified from the DRN.
Results:
(1) A subpopulation of dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) neurons were intensely labelled with CTB and these CTB-labelled neurons were densely distributed in a dorsomedial part of the DRN; (2) Four immunolabelling, TH, 5-HT, GABA and DBH were presented throughout the DRN. Of the total population of CTB-labelled neurons, 100% were TH-labelled neurons (double labelling) and no double-stained neuron with 5-HT, GABA and DBH was observed in the DRN.
Conclusions:
There was a projection from DRN to the inner ear and this pathway might be a dopaminergic projection.
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