Morphology and synaptic connections of slowly adapting periodontal afferent terminals in the trigeminal subnuclei principalis and oralis of the cat

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Abstract
Previous studies suggest that sensory information from primary afferent fibers is processed in a distinct manner in the individual subnuclei of trigeminal sensory nuclear complex. The present study has addressed this issue by using intra‐axonal labeling with horseradish peroxidase to examine the ultrastructure and synaptic organization of axon terminals from slowly adapting (SA) periodontal afferents in the ventral subdivision (Vpv) of principalis and the rostro‐dorsomedial part (Vo. r) of oralis. Our observations are based on complete or near‐complete reconstructions of 139 synaptic boutons in Vpv and 105 in Vo. r. All the labeled boutons contained clear, spherical, synaptic vesicles and were presynaptic to unlabeled dendrites, and they were frequently postsynaptic to unlabeled axon terminals containing pleomorphic synaptic vesicles (P‐endings). The P‐endings frequently formed axodendritic synapses on dendrites which received axodendritic synapses from labeled boutons (synaptic triads). On the basis of the number of contacts, synaptic arrangements associated with the labeled boutons could be subgrouped into simple (one or two contacts), intermediate (three or four contacts), and complex (five or more contacts) types. The labeled boutons varied from round to elongated forms with smooth to more irregular or scalloped contours. The boutons with scalloped contour were much more frequent in the complex type. The boutons of the intermediate type were significantly smaller than the complex type and larger than the simple type. The SA periodontal afferent terminals participated in each type of synaptic arrangements in Vpv, but were mostly of the simple type in Vo. r. The size of labeled boutons was significantly larger in Vpv than in Vo. r. The total number of axodendritic and axoaxonic contacts per labeled bouton was significantly higher in Vpv than in Vo. r. Another difference was the more frequent occurrence of synaptic triads in Vpv than in Vo. r. These observations provide evidence that sensory information from primary afferent fibers is processed in a different manner in the two subnuclei.