The dendritic architecture of the medial terminal nucleus of the accessory optic system in the rat, rabbit, and cat

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Abstract
The neurons of the medial terminal nucleus (MTN) of the accessory optic system (AOS) have been studied in the rat, rabbit and cat in Golgi-Cox and Golgi-Kopsch impregnated brain sections. The present anatomical findings permit a division of the MTN of these species into dorsal and ventral components (MTNd, MTNv), in agreement with other investigations. The MTNd contains predominantly linear-bipolar and linear-multipolar shaped neurons with cell bodies that measure in the range of 25–50 μm. These neurons have 2 to 4 primary dendrites which, along with their smaller dendritic branches, are oriented in the plane of the long axis of the MTN (i.e. from ventromedial to dorsolateral). These linear-bipolar and linear-multipolar cells represent 70–80% of the neurons of the MTNd as seen in the Golgi impregnated sections. The remaining 20–30% of the MTNd neurons are nearly all multipolar in shape with somata measuring in the range of 15–25 μm. An occasional multipolar neuron is larger, has a soma that measures around 30–60 μm and has dendrites which extend outward from the cell body to cover large areas of the MTNd. There was considerable extension of the dendrites of MTNd neurons into the MTNv; however, the dendrites of MTNd neurons were not observed extending into the adjacent substantia nigra (SN) or ventral tegmental area (VTA) of Tsai (1925). Conversely, the dendrites of neurons in the neighboring SN and VTA course along the borders of the MTN but only occasionally extend into the MTN. The neuron population of the MTNv consists almost entirely of small-multipolar shaped cells with somata measuring from 15–25 μm and dendritic trees resembling those described for multipolar cells of the MTNd. A small number of neurons of the ventral division are medium-multipolar in shape with cell bodies that measure approximately 30–60 μm. Typically, these cells have several dendrites which extend ventrally within the MTNv and one or more dendrites that extend either across the MTNv or dorsally into the MTNd. Only a few linear-bipolar and linear-multipolar neurons were observed in the MTNv. The present findings are discussed in relation to anatomical, physiological, and histochemical studies on the MTN.

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