数種の食虫類のふん運動機構の解剖学的背景について ＨＲＰ法による研究

Abstract

The axonal transport method of the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was used for defining the anatomical background of the snout movements in 54 Japanese shrew-moles, Urotrichus talpoides, 4 Temminck's moles, Mogera wogura, and 21 big-clawed shrews, Sorex unguiculatus. HRP was applied either to the snout muscle or to the proximal stump of the facial nerve on one side.The results obtained were as follows: 1) Peroxidase-containing cell bodies were found in the cell station adjacent to the ipsilateral glossopharyngeal ganglion in the moles but no HRPpositive cells in the shrews. These HRP-containing cells are primary proprioceptive sensory neurons in the VII nerve.2) A HRP-positive fiber bundle was found in the pontine pathway of the ipsilateral IX nerve in the moles but none in the shrews. The HRP-positive bundle proves the existence of the proprioceptive sensory tract of the VII nerve.3) In both the moles and shrews, HRP-containing cell bodies were observed either ipsilaterally or bilaterally in the facial motor nucleus, composed of 4 subnuclei: the ventrolateral, yentromedial, dorsal and accessory.4) Only when HRP was applied to the snout muscle were the HRP-containing cell bodies found in the ipsilateral trigeminal ganglia and the ipsilateral superior, middle and inferior cervical sympathetic ganglia.