Deafferentation of somatosensory trigeminal nerves innervating dental pulp and periodontal tissue results in a higher taste threshold persisting for a long time in humans. The dental and taste nerves converge on neurons in the rostral nucleus of the solitary tract (rNST), suggesting somatosensory and taste input interact in processing taste information in the rNST. Peripheral injury to the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN), one of the dental nerves, leads to glial responses predominantly in the trigeminal spinal subnucleus caudalis and spinal dorsal horn, and abnormal pain sensation via a mechanism involving the active microglia. We examined the microglial response in another primary IAN terminal, the NST, after transection of the IAN (IANx) to reveal a mechanism of abnormal taste sensation after peripheral injury to the dental nerves. By 7 days post-IANx, a cluster of microglial cells appeared in and around the rostral-most portion of the NST, indicating that nerve damage to the IAN results in a microglial response in the rNST, which may participate in initiating abnormal taste sensations following IAN injury.
機関リポジトリとは
Activation of microglia in the nucleus of the solitary tract by inferior alveolar nerve injury
.png)
学位論文
(431.46KB)
