Dorsal cochlear nucleus

Cerebellum (granule cells) dorsal cochlear nucleus... 

P-cell, cerebellar Purkinje neurons DCN, dorsal cochlear nucleus NMJ, neuromuscular junction. 

Chen K, Sprunger LK, Meisler MH, Waller HJ, Godfrey DA 1999 Reduced spontaneous activity in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of ScnSa mutant mice. Brain Res 847 85-89... 

Fig. 5. Drawing of the brainstem depicting neurons and pathways likely to use glutamate as a neurotransmitter. 1 = primary afferent inputs to the dorsal column nuclei (a), the solitary tract nucleus (b), and the cochlear nucleus (c) 2 = granule cell/parallel fibers in the dorsal cochlear nucleus 3 = calyces of Held in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body 4 = cochlear nucleus inputs to the lateral superior olive 5 = input to the oculomotor nucleus from the ventral lateral vestibular nucleus 6 = input to the oculomotor nucleus from the abducens nucleus 7 = corticocollieular inputs 8 = spinal input to the periaqueductal gray 9 = inputs to the red nucleus and pontine nuclei from the cerebellar nuclei. For further details, see Section 3.3.

Osen KK, Storm-Mathisen J. Ottersen OP, Dihle B (1995) Glutamate is concentrated in and released from parallel fiber terminals in the dorsal cochlear nucleus a quantitative immunocytochemical analysis in guinea pig. J Comp Neurol 357 482-500. 

Rubio ME, Juiz JM (1998) Chemical anatomy of excitatory endings in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the rat differential synaptic distribution of aspartate aminotransferase, glutamate, and vesicular zinc. J Comp Neurol 399 341-358. 

Concerning the central auditive pathways, the role of Asp is unresolved. However, based on the immunogold study of Osen et al. (1995) Asp seems not to contribute to synaptic transmission at the parallel fiber synapse in the dorsal cochlear nucleus. 

Comparison of the results obtained from in situ hybridization histochemistry with those from immunohistochemistry indicated that the mGluRl was expressed in the somatodendritic domain of neurons but not in axons in the brain and spinal cord. In fact, expression of mGluRl in postsynaptic neuronal elements was confirmed electron-microscopically in the cerebral cortex (Ong et al, 1998), hippocampus (Baude et al., 1993 Lujan et al., 1996, 1997 Hanson and Smith, 1999), striatum (Hanson and Smith, 1999), thalamus (Martin et al., 1992 Godwin et al., 1996 Liu et al., 1998), hypothalamus (Van den Pol, 1994), cerebellar cortex (Martin et al., 1992 Baude et al., 1993 Gores et al., 1993 Nusser et al., 1994 Lujan et al., 1996, 1997 Jaarsma et al., 1998), and dorsal cochlear nucleus (Petralia et al., 1996b Jaarsma et al., 1998). 

Petralia RS, Wang Y-X, Zhao H-M, Wenthold RJ (1996b) Ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors show unique postsynaptic, presynaptic, and glial localizations in the dorsal cochlear nucleus. J Comp Neurol 372 256-383. 

Fig. 2. Sagittal section of rat brain immunolabeled (pre-embedding immunoperoxidase) for delta 1/2. CP = caudate putamen DC = dorsal cochlear n. DG = dentate gyrus (in hippocampus) FH = forelimb/hindlimb area of cortex Fr = frontal cortex Rt = reticulothalamic n. Note high levels of labeling in the dorsal cochlear nucleus and the cerebellar molecular layer (above DC), moderate labeling in the hippocampus and light to moderate labeling in various other brain structures. Modified from Mayat et al. (1995).

Molitor SC, Manis PB (1997) Evidence for functional metabotropic glutamate receptors in the dorsal cochlear nucleus. J Neurophysiology 77 1889-1905. 

Abbreviations Al = primary auditory area ac = anterior commissure Acc = accumbens nucleus AON = anterior olfactory nucleus BF = barrel field BLA = basolateral nucleus of the amygdala CAl = cornu ammonis 1 CA3 = cornu ammonis 3 cc = corpus callosum Cg = cingulate area CPu = caudate-putamen DCb = deep cerebellar nuclei DCo = dorsal cochlear nucleus DG = dentate gyrus DMV = dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve ECu = external cuneate nucleus EP = external plexiform layer ER = entorhinal cortex f = fornix Fa = facial nucleus fa = facial nerve fr = fasciculus retroflexus G1 = glomerular layer GPe = (external segment of the)... 

A developmentally regulated polypeptide (PEP-19), that is a presumptive neuron-specific calcium binding protein, was identified in adult and neonatal rat cerebellum and its amino acid sequence was determined (Ziai et al., 1986). PEP-19-like immunoreactivity is expressed by Purkinje cells and by the cartwheel cells of the dorsal cochlear nucleus of the mouse (Mugnaini et al., 1987). Berrebi et al. (1991) drew attention to the expression of PEP-19, CaBP and other Purkinje cell markers (cerebellin, L7 see below) by bipolar cells and other neurons of the retina. 

Mugnaini E, Berrebi AS, Dahl S-L, Morgan JI (1987) The polypeptide PEP-19 is a marker for Purkinje neurons in cerebellar cortex and cartwheel neurons in the dorsal cochlear nucleus. Arch. Ital Biol, 126,... 

Davis K.A. andVoigtH.F. (1997). Evidence of stimulus-dependent correlated activity in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of decerebrate gerbils. /. Neurophysiol. 78 229-247. 

Doucet J.R. and Ryugo D.K. (2003). Axonal pathways to the lateral superior olive labeled with biotinylated dextran amine injections in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of rats. J. Comp. Neurol. 461 452 65. 

Hancock K.E. andVoigtH.F. (1999). Wideband inhibition of dorsal cochlear nucleus type IV units in cat a computational model. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 27 73-87. 

Hancock K.E. and Voigt H.F. (2002). Intracellularly labeled fusiform cells in dorsal cochlear nucleus of the gerbil. I. Physiological response properties. /. Neurophysiol. 87 2505-2519. 

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