Distribution of 28 kDa calbindin-immunopositive neurons in the cat spinal cord

• Main Authors: Natalia eMerkulyeva, Aleksandr eVeshchitskii, Felix eMakarov, Yury eGerasimenko, Pavel eMusienko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-01-01
• Series: Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
• Subjects: Interneurons; Spinal Cord; Ca2+-binding proteins; calbindin-28 kDa; sensory-motor networks
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnana.2015.00166/full

The distribution of vitamin D-dependent calcium-binding protein (28 kDa calbindin) was investigated in cat lumbar and sacral spinal cord segments (L1-S3). We observed specific multi-dimensional distributions over the spinal segments for small immunopositive cells in Rexed laminae II-III and medium-to-large cells of varying morphology in lamina I and laminae V-VIII. The small neurons in laminae II-III were clustered into the columns along the dorsal horn curvature. The medium-to-large cells were grouped into four assemblages that were located in (1) the most lateral region of lamina VII at the L1-L4 level, (2) the laminae IV-V boundary at the L5-L7 level, (3) the lamina VII dorsal border at the L5-L7 level; (4) the lamina VIII at the L5-S3 level. The data obtained suggest that the morphological and physiological heterogeneity of calbindin immunolabeling cells formed morpho-functional clusters over the gray matter. A significant portion of the lumbosacral enlargement had immunopositive neurons within all Rexed laminae, suggesting an important functional role within and among the spinal networks that control hindlimb movements.