A morphologic study of Fluorogold labeled tensor tympani motoneurons in mice

The tensor tympani is one of two middle ear muscles that regulates the transmission of sound through the middle ear. Contraction of the tensor tympani in response to both auditory and non-auditory stimulation is mediated by the tensor tympani motoneurons (TTMNs). There are interesting differences among species in the acoustic thresholds for contraction of the middle ear muscles, which may be a reflection of underlying anatomical differences such as the number of TTMNs. However anatomical data for mice are lacking, even though the mouse is becoming the most common animal model for auditory and neuroscience research. We investigated the number and morphology of TTMNs in mice using Fluorogold, a retrograde neuronal tracer. After injections of Fluorogold into the tensor tympani muscle, a column of labeled TTMNs was identified ventro-lateral to the ipsilateral trigeminal nucleus. The labeled TTMNs were classified according to their morphological characteristics into three subtypes: "octopus-like", "fusiform" and "stellate", suggesting underlying differences in function. All three subtypes formed sparsely branched and radiating dendrites, some longer than 600 microm. Dendrites were longest and most numerous in the dorso-medial direction. In 18 cases, the mean number of mouse TTMNs was 51; the largest numbers were 70, 74 and 90 (n=3 injections). The mean size of mouse TTMNs was 13.0 microm (minor axis) and 23.5 microm (major axis). Compared with studies of TTMNs in larger species (cats and rats), mouse TTMNs are both fewer in number and smaller in size.