[Brain stem projections of afferent fibres form the salivary gland]

The sensory nerve fibres and terminals exist in the salivary gland. However, the projection sites of these sensory fibres have not been clarified. The present study was examined electrophysiologically the projection site of the afferent fibres in the brain stem in urethane-chloralose anesthetized cats. The sensory fibres from the sublingual and submandibular glands were passing through the trigeminal nerve. The afferent fibres projected to the caudal end of subnucleus interpolaris of trigeminal spinal tract nucleus, then send the secondary neurons to the lateral and medial of bulbar reticular formation and pontine reticular formation. The sensory afferents from the salivary gland would control the salivary secretion and other autonomic functions.