Development and organization of polarity-specific segregation of primary vestibular afferent fibers in mice |
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Authors: | Adel Maklad Suzan Kamel Elaine Wong Bernd Fritzsch |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Anatomy, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, USA;(2) Department of Oral Biology, University of Missouri, Kansas, MO 64108, USA;(3) Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa, IA 52242, USA;(4) Assiut University School of Medicine, Assiut, Egypt;(5) University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China |
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Abstract: | A striking feature of vestibular hair cells is the polarized arrangement of their stereocilia as the basis for their directional
sensitivity. In mammals, each of the vestibular end organs is characterized by a distinct distribution of these polarized
cells. We utilized the technique of post-fixation transganglionic neuronal tracing with fluorescent lipid soluble dyes in
embryonic and postnatal mice to investigate whether these polarity characteristics correlate with the pattern of connections
between the endorgans and their central targets; the vestibular nuclei and cerebellum. We found that the cerebellar and brainstem
projections develop independently from each other and have a non-overlapping distribution of neurons and afferents from E11.5
on. In addition, we show that the vestibular fibers projecting to the cerebellum originate preferentially from the lateral
half of the utricular macula and the medial half of the saccular macula. In contrast, the brainstem vestibular afferents originate
primarily from the medial half of the utricular macula and the lateral half of the saccular macula. This indicates that the
line of hair cell polarity reversal within the striola region segregates almost mutually exclusive central projections. A
possible interpretation of this feature is that this macular organization provides an inhibitory side-loop through the cerebellum
to produce synergistic tuning effects in the vestibular nuclei. The canal cristae project to the brainstem vestibular nuclei
and cerebellum, but the projection to the vestibulocerebellum originates preferentially from the superior half of each of
the cristae. The reason for this pattern is not clear, but it may compensate for unequal activation of crista hair cells or
may be an evolutionary atavism reflecting a different polarity organization in ancestral vertebrate ears. |
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