The development of the trigeminal (V) motor nucleus in normal and tubocurare treated chick embryos

The generation of cells and the naturally occurring neuronal death was studied in the trigeminal motor neuron pool in normal and tubocurare treated chick embryos between the 5th and 18th days of incubation. 3H-thymidine autoradiography revealed that the generation time extends from the 2nd to the 5th day of incubation, wherein about 50% of trigeminal motoneurons are born on the 3rd day. Maximum neuron number was found on the 7th day of incubation which steadily decreased to about 50% of the originally generated neurons by the 13th day. Nuclear pyknosis occurred from the 6th to the 13th day of incubation with a peak of neuron loss on the 7th day. Tubocurare, administered daily from the 5th day of incubation rescued most of the generated motoneurons which would otherwise have died. Cell nuclear area measurements in the motoneuron pool of the tubocurare treated animals showed a marked hypertrophy accompanying the increased neuronal survival. These observations indicate that tubocurare treatment prevents naturally occurring neuron death and causes significant nuclear hypertrophy within the trigeminal motoneuron pool innervating special, branchial arch derived muscles. Thus these neurons respond to tubocurare treatment in a manner similar to motoneurons of the spinal cord.