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Chemical Senses 12: 381-395,
© 1987

research-article

The chorda tympani and glossopharyngeal nerves in the adult hamster

Taichang Jang and Barry J. Davis

Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL 35294, USA

The numbers and diameters of axons in the intact chorda tympani (CT) and lingual branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve (GN) are quantified with the use of electron microscopic photomontages. The cross-sectional diameters of the CT and GN average 68 and 86 microns, respectively. The intact CT contains {small tilde} 1050 fibers, 63% are unmyelinated and 37% are myelinated. The GN contains {small tilde} 1600 fibers, 79% are unmyelinated and 21% are myelinated. Both nerves are made up of relatively small unmyelinated and myelinated fibers, although the GN shows a broader distribution of diameters for its myelinated fibers due to the presence of general somatosensory fibers. Following de-efferentation, there is a 48% reduction in the number of unmyelinated fibers in the CT. Fifty-two per cent of the unmyelinated fibers are sensory. The number of myelinated fibers is not significantly reduced and nearly all of the myelinated fibers are sensory. Sixty-seven per cent of the fibers within the CT are sensory. The de-efferented CT contains an equal number of unmyelinated and myelinated axons and a total of {small tilde} 700 fibers. Comparable data in the rat indicate that its intact and de-efferented CT are organized differently in regards to the numbers of sensory and motor, and myelinated versus unmyelinated fibers. The findings of the present study, together with the available data from other species, suggest that anatomical differences in the make-up of the major gustatory nerves do not contribute in any obvious way to the known differences in the response properties between the rat and hamster CT, and that the number of myelinated fibers in the visceral motor component of the CT varies considerably across species.


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