Upper brainstem cholinergic neurons project to ascending and descending circuits

BMC Biology

Research Article

Huading Wang¹  Peilin Zhao²  Hui Gong³  Anan Li³  Xiangning Li⁴  Xueyan Jia⁵  Tao Jiang⁵ 

[1] Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430074, Wuhan, China;Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430074, Wuhan, China;Institute of neurological diseases, North Sichuan Medical University, 637100, Nanchong, China;Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430074, Wuhan, China;Research Unit of Multimodal Cross Scale Neural Signal Detection and Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, 215123, Suzhou, China;Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 430074, Wuhan, China;Research Unit of Multimodal Cross Scale Neural Signal Detection and Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, 215123, Suzhou, China;Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Hainan Province, School of Biomedical Engineering, Hainan University, 570228, Haikou, China;Research Unit of Multimodal Cross Scale Neural Signal Detection and Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, JITRI, 215123, Suzhou, China;

关键词: Projection patterns;    Cholinergic neurons;    Pedunculopontine nucleus;    Laterodorsal tegmental nucleus;    Single cell;    Morphology;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12915-023-01625-y

 received in 2022-11-25, accepted in 2023-05-12,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBased on their anatomical location, rostral projections of nuclei are classified as ascending circuits, while caudal projections are classified as descending circuits. Upper brainstem neurons participate in complex information processing and specific sub-populations preferentially project to participating ascending or descending circuits. Cholinergic neurons in the upper brainstem have extensive collateralizations in both ascending and descending circuits; however, their single-cell projection patterns remain unclear because of the lack of comprehensive characterization of individual neurons.ResultsBy combining fluorescent micro-optical sectional tomography with sparse labeling, we acquired a high-resolution whole-brain dataset of pontine-tegmental cholinergic neurons (PTCNs) and reconstructed their detailed morphology using semi-automatic reconstruction methods. As the main source of acetylcholine in some subcortical areas, individual PTCNs had abundant axons with lengths up to 60 cm and 5000 terminals and innervated multiple brain regions from the spinal cord to the cortex in both hemispheres. Based on various collaterals in the ascending and descending circuits, individual PTCNs were grouped into four subtypes. The morphology of cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus was more divergent, whereas the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus neurons contained richer axonal branches and dendrites. In the ascending circuits, individual PTCNs innervated the thalamus in three different patterns and projected to the cortex via two separate pathways. Moreover, PTCNs targeting the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra had abundant collaterals in the pontine reticular nuclei, and these two circuits contributed oppositely to locomotion.ConclusionsOur results suggest that individual PTCNs have abundant axons, and most project to various collaterals in the ascending and descending circuits simultaneously. They target regions with multiple patterns, such as the thalamus and cortex. These results provide a detailed organizational characterization of cholinergic neurons to understand the connexional logic of the upper brainstem.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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