The behaviour of sensory ganglia in relation to their environment

The nodose ganglion was removed from rats and transplanted into the denervated tongue and into the denervated or innervated sternocleidomastoid muscle. In another procedure the ganglion was sutured to the distal hypoglossal or sciatic nerve. The ganglia failed to develop motor end-plates on denervated muscle. They did, however, induce formation of taste buds on the lingual epithelium. The regenerated nerve fibres ramified extensively within the connective tissue, invading perivascular tissue and lingual epithelium. At a cellular level some ganglion cells were covered with a meshwork of axonal material while others were found outside the confines of the implanted ganglion. The latter cell group are thought to achieve their location by a process of migration.