Authors: J R McClung K E Cullen M S Shall D M Dimitrova S J Goldberg
Publish Date: 2004/06/24
Volume: 158, Issue: 2, Pages: 180-188
Abstract
Two adult rhesus monkeys that had undergone 2 years of electrode penetrations into their abducens and vestibular nuclei for chronic eye movement studies were examined histologically An analysis of their VIth nucleus neurons and lateral rectus muscles revealed the following Twentytwo percent of the large neurons ≈30 µm in diameter on average were missing and extensive neuropil disruption and gliosis was evident in the experimental side abducens nuclei as compared with the control side in each animal While the lateral rectus muscles showed small but inconsistent changes in total fiber number the muscle fiber diameters were altered leading to a more homogenous muscle and making the typical orbital and global subdivisions of the muscle less distinct Eye movement records from before and after the electrophysiological studies were comparable We discuss how the complex architecture of the extraocular muscles as well as the possibility of polyneuronal innervation of single muscle fibers could explain our resultsSupported by National Institutes of Health grants EY 11249 and EY 02191 and by a Medical Research Council of Canada MRC grant to Dr Cullen The authors greatly appreciate the help of Dr John T Povlishock for his advice on histopathological techniques as well as the technical assistance of Sue Walker and Barbara Mann
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