Organization in the Spinal Cord : The Anatomy and Physiology of Identified Neurones

The research described in this book arose, in large part, from a sense of frustration. For a number of years I had been studying the physiology of the spinocervical tract, a somatosensory pathway, in the cat's spinal cord. But I did not know, precisely, where the cells of origin of the tract were located and therefore did not know what they looked like or whether there were any correlations between structure and function. It was true that electrophysiolo­ gical experiments had indicated their probable situation in the dorsal horn, and anatomical work had described the morphology of cells that were likely to give rise to the axons of the tract; but this was not satisfactory. With the publication, by Stretton and Kravitz in 1968, of the Procion Yellow ionophoretic method for intracellular staining, a new tool became available for studying the morphology of physiologically identified neurones. We used the techniques and, although very pleased with the beautiful appearance of the dendritic trees of neurones seen in the fluorescence microscope, we were again frustrated, this time by the inability of Procion Yellow to stain axons for any considerable length. Therefore, P. K. Rose and P. J. Snow and I began to try to develop a method that would stain the axon, together with its collaterals, in addition to the soma and dendrites of an intracellularly re­ corded neurone. Front Matter....Pages I-XII Spinal cord organization: an introduction....Pages 1-12 Axons innervating hair follicle receptors....Pages 13-31 Axons innervating rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors in glabrous skin....Pages 32-46 Axons innervating slowly adapting Type I mechanoreceptors....Pages 47-61 Axons innervating slowly adapting Type II mechanoreceptors....Pages 62-72 Spinocervical tract neurones....Pages 73-107 Relationships between hair follicle afferent fibres and spinocervical tract neurones....Pages 108-119 Neurones with axons ascending the dorsal columns....Pages 120-129 Other dorsal horn neurones....Pages 130-135 The organization of the dorsal horn....Pages 136-153 Afferent fibres from primary endings in muscle spindles....Pages 154-171 Afferent fibres from Golgi tendon organs....Pages 172-185 Afferent fibres from secondary endings in muscle spindles....Pages 186-195 Relationships between Group Ia afferent fibres and motoneurones....Pages 196-214 Back Matter....Pages 215-238