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Dorsal column input into the reticular formation

Nature volume 288, pages 481–483 (1980)Cite this article

Abstract

Somatic sensory information, such as touch, pressure, pain and body position, is conveyed to the mammalian thalamus and ultimately the cerebral cortex along three major ascending pathways in the spinal cord: (1) the dorsal column medial lemniscal (DCML) system, (2) the ventral column (VC) system, including the ‘neospinothalamic’, ‘palaeospinothalamic’ and spinoreticular tracts, and (3) the spino-cervico-lemniscal (SCL) system1,2. The phylogenetically recent DCML system has been traditionally viewed as an exclusive and homogeneous one-to-one relay of somatic sensory information to the thalamic ventralis posterolateralis nucleus. The emerging evidence, however, shows the gracile and cuneate nuclei as non-homogeneous structures which contain neurones that are subject to many kinds of central and peripheral influences, and which include neurones that do not project to the thalamus3. The relation of the ascending spinal pathways to the brain stem reticular formation (RF) is of particular interest in view of the numerous important functions subserved by this region. The spinal input into the RF is generally considered to reach it exclusively through the VC4. In view of their intraspinal connections5–8, it is difficult to separate and interact the three ascending spinal pathways. We now demonstrate a DCML input into the gigantocellular nucleus (Rgc) of the medial medullary RF in cats, and show inhibitory as well as excitatory interactions between DCML and VC tracts in RF cells. We used a combination of careful spinal surgical lesions aimed at disconnecting the DCML from the other afferent systems and of localized spinal and peripheral stimulations. Persistence of the response of Rgc neurones to DCML stimulation in decerebrate and decerebellate cats rules out the possibility of descending activation via a feedback loop from the cerebral and cerebellar cortices. In view of the possible involvement of Rgc in processing nociceptive input, these findings are of interest to our understanding of the DCML system in somatosensory function and, in particular, pain mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    N. A. Salibi & S. J. Jabbur

  2. Comparative Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences, Lebanese University, Hadath-Beirut, Lebanon

    N. E. Saadé & N. R. Banna

Authors
  1. N. A. Salibi
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  2. N. E. Saadé
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  3. N. R. Banna
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  4. S. J. Jabbur
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Salibi, N., Saadé, N., Banna, N. et al. Dorsal column input into the reticular formation. Nature 288, 481–483 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/288481a0

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