Ascending projections from the area postrema and the nucleus of the solitary tract of Suncus murinus: anterograde tracing study using Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin

Suncus murinus (suncus) is a new experimental animal model for research on the mechanisms underlying emesis. In the present study, we examined the ascending projections from the area postrema (AP) and the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) in suncus based on anterograde transport of phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin. The AP projected heavily to the dorsal vagal complex, especially in the commissural and medial subnuclei of the NTS, and the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus. Some ascending fibers from the AP projected bilaterally to the parabrachial nucleus (Pb), but no labeling was observed rostral to this area. In contrast, the NTS had extensive projections as far as the basal forebrain. The NTS projections were observed in the AP, ventrolateral reticular formation including the nucleus ambiguus, A5 noradrenergic area, locus coeruleus, Pb, and central gray matter of the midbrain. At the level of the diencephalon, the NTS projections were seen in the dorsomedial, lateral, paraventricular, periventricular, supraoptic, retrochiasmatic and arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus, in addition to the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus. Terminal fields within the basal forebrain were also shown to include the medial preoptic area, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the substantia innominata and the ventral pallidum. The results indicated that the neurological relationship between the chemo- and/or barosensitive systems including the trigger of the emetic response and the general viscerosensory and/or -motor systems may exist also in the suncus.