Timing and topography of nucleus magnocellularis innervation by the cochlear ganglion

This series of experiments examined the arrival and organization of cochlear nerve axons in the primary auditory brainstem nucleus, nucleus magnocellularis (NM), of the chick. DiI and DiD were injected into the cochlear nerve, cochlear ganglion, and basilar papilla (i.e., avian cochlea) in fixed tissue and labeled axons were studied in NM and its vicinity. Cochlear nerve axons first penetrate NM between stages 29 (E6) and 36 (E10). Axons penetrate NM in a middle-to-posterior-to-anterior developmental sequence; the anterior, high-frequency region of NM receives axons last. When cochlear nerve axons arrive in the NM, they are already organized in a topographic map related to the position of their cell bodies along the basilar papilla, foreshadowing the tonotopic mapping observed between NM and the basilar papilla later in development. Evidence of a topographic map was also observed in the other primary auditory brainstem nucleus, nucleus angularis. These results indicate that topographic mapping of position (and ultimately characteristic frequency) between the basilar papilla and NM is established as cochlear nerve axons arrive in the NM prior to the onset of synaptic activity. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.