Abstract
Forty adult rats underwent simple transection of one of ten different branches of the maxillary and mandibular nerves. All animals were killed on the tenth postoperative day and the trigeminal ganglia were removed for routine histological processing. After staining for Nissl substance, the positions of chromatolytic perikarya were plotted on overlays of photographic enlargements of serial sections. The percentages of chromatolytic cells for all ganglion regions and all nerve lesions were determined and used to construct histograms. Results showed a series of somatotopic columns arranged longitudinally within the ganglion. The laterally placed cell columns corresponded to lateral fields of orofacial innervation supplied by the auriculo-temporal nerve and branches to the molar teeth. The antero-medial cell columns corresponded to more medial orofacial structures, supplied by the maxillary incisor and external nasal nerves. The dorso-ventral organization was more complex although, in general, intraoral structures were represented in the more ventral nerve-cell masses.
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