FINE STRUCTURE OF TSTT TERMINALS ON VMPO

描述（改编自研究者摘要）：我们的理解 疼痛和体温中枢通路的功能组织 感觉依赖于对所涉及的基质的解剖学解释。 我们 最近在猴子和人类的丘脑核（VMpo）中发现了一个我们 我认为是一个感觉中继核团，负责特定的疼痛和温度 活动 我们将通过检查突触来验证这一假设。 三叉神经和脊髓丘脑I层的组织化（TSTT） 在VMPO终止，以确定他们是否提供了基础 来确保感官信息的安全传递 我们将建立 单个顺行标记的三维模型 TSTT终端从串行总线部分，使用的方法，我们 在猫的丘脑中成功应用。 虽然技术上很困难 而且耗时，这是完全表征 这些终端与相邻的超微结构元素的关系。 在 重建他们的突触学，我们将寻求识别三联体 与突触前树突的安排，这是特征， 丘脑感觉中继核，但其他人说， 灵长类中的TSTT终端。 此外，我们还将研究 伤害感受和温度感受板I TSTT的末端 纤维可能是不同的，正如先前在猫身上的工作所表明的那样， 板层I终止于腹侧后部n。(VP)可能不同于 在VMPO。 这些研究将增进我们对丘脑的了解 基底是疼痛和温度信息处理的基础， 它们将提供对感觉的突触基础的深入了解， 疼痛和寒冷，可以通过刺激这一地区在 人类丘脑

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract): Our understanding of the functional organization of central pathways for pain and temperature sensations depends on anatomical elucidation of the substrates involved. We recently identified a thalamic nucleus in monkeys and humans (VMpo) that we believe is a sensory relay nucleus for specific pain and temperature activity. We will test this hypothesis by examining the synaptic organization of the lamina I trigemino- and spino-thalamic (TSTT) terminations in VMpo in order to determine whether they provide the basis for secure synaptic relay of sensory information. We will build volume-rendered three-dimensional models of single anterogradely-labeled TSTT terminals from serial ultrathin sections, using a methodology that we have applied successfully in the cat thalamus. Though technically difficult and time consuming, this is the only means of fully characterizing the relationships of these terminals with adjacent ultrastructural elements. In reconstructing their synaptology, we will seek to identify triadic arrangements with presynaptic dendrites, which are characteristic of thalamic sensory relay nuclei but which others say are not associated with TSTT terminals in the primate. Further, we will examine the possibilities that the terminations of nociceptive and thermoreceptive lamina I TSTT fibers may be different, as suggested by prior work in the cat, and that lamina I terminations in the ventral posterior n. (VP) may differ from those in VMpo. These studies will improve our understanding of the thalamic substrates underlying the processing of pain and temperature information, and they will offer insight into the synaptic basis for the sensations of pain and cold that can be produced by stimulation of this region in the human thalamus.