Neurons in the lateral spinal nucleus give rise to the spinotectal component of the anterolateral system in the mouse
- 1University of Glasgow
Abstract
The anterolateral system (ALS) originates from neurons in various regions of the spinal cord and conveys somatosensory information related to pain, skin temperature and itch to several brain targets. One component of the ALS is the spinotectal tract, which projects to the superior colliculus (SC) and is thought to underlie directed movements of the head towards a painful stimulus. Using anterograde and retrograde tracing, we demonstrate that the input from the spinal enlargements to the SC originates predominantly from neurons in the lateral spinal nucleus (LSN), many of which express calbindin. This input, which mainly targets the caudal and lateral parts of the SC, is somatotopically organised, and is associated with the clusters of Pitx2-expressing neurons that have been identified in previous studies. Since activation of Pitx2 neurons drives directed head movements, input from LSN neurons to the Pitx2 cells is likely to be a critical component of orientation and attention towards a noxious stimuli. We also provide evidence that spinotectal LSN cells receive excitatory synaptic input from neurons in superficial dorsal horn that express substance P or the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR). Since GRPR neurons are strongly implicated in itch, our findings raise the possibility that the SC has a role in coordinating movements in response to pruritic stimuli.
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BibTeX
@misc{hajer2026neurons,
title = {{Neurons in the lateral spinal nucleus give rise to the spinotectal component of the anterolateral system in the mouse}},
author = {M. Abu Hajer and M. Yadav and W. Ma and A. C. Dickie and E. Polgar and A. M. Bell and A. Todd},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.29.755366},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755366v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Neurons in the lateral spinal nucleus give rise to the spinotectal component of the anterolateral system in the mouse
AU - M. Abu Hajer
AU - M. Yadav
AU - W. Ma
AU - A. C. Dickie
AU - E. Polgar
AU - A. M. Bell
AU - A. Todd
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.29.755366
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755366v1
AB - The anterolateral system (ALS) originates from neurons in various regions of the spinal cord and conveys somatosensory information related to pain, skin temperature and itch to several brain targets. One component of the ALS is the spinotectal tract, which projects to the superior colliculus (SC) and is thought to underlie directed movements of the head towards a painful stimulus. Using anterograde and retrograde tracing, we demonstrate that the input from the spinal enlargements to the SC originates predominantly from neurons in the lateral spinal nucleus (LSN), many of which express calbindin. This input, which mainly targets the caudal and lateral parts of the SC, is somatotopically organised, and is associated with the clusters of Pitx2-expressing neurons that have been identified in previous studies. Since activation of Pitx2 neurons drives directed head movements, input from LSN neurons to the Pitx2 cells is likely to be a critical component of orientation and attention towards a noxious stimuli. We also provide evidence that spinotectal LSN cells receive excitatory synaptic input from neurons in superficial dorsal horn that express substance P or the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR). Since GRPR neurons are strongly implicated in itch, our findings raise the possibility that the SC has a role in coordinating movements in response to pruritic stimuli.
ER -