Arborization pattern of sympathetic preganglionic axons in the rat superior cervical and stellate ganglia

Anterograde labeling technique with Phaseolus Vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) was employed to observe how a single preganglionic axon arborizes in the superior cervical ganglion (SCG) and stellate ganglion (STG) of rats. PHA-L was injected into the intermediolateral nucleus of the spinal cord at the middle point between segments T1 and T2, and labeled axons were detected immunohistochemically in serial sections. We traced and drew three preganglionic axons over their full length in the SCG and STG. In SCG, the labeled axons bifurcated repeatedly and extended to a length of 600-700 microns in the rostrocaudal direction, and about 200 microns in the transverse direction. These three preganglionic axons made 11, 14 and 11 dense terminal plexus regions along their trajectory. The pattern of the most dense terminal plexus corresponded to the pericellular type dendritic plexus, one of the plexus patterns of dendritic collaterals of SCG neurons. In the STG, the extent of axonal arborization was more variable than that in the SCG, ranging from 400 to 800 microns in the rostrocaudal direction and about 400 microns in the transverse direction. The three analyzed axons made 21, 19 and 20 dense terminal plexus regions along their trajectory, with a similar pattern to those in SCG. These results indicated that there might be a columnar or ellipsoidal organization of postganglionic neurons which are innervated by single preganglionic axons.