Die Endigung afferenter Fasern der Seitenliniennerven im Mittelhirn des Dorsches Gadus morhua

The brain of a cod, Gadus morhua L., caught with damaged lateral lines, has been investigated histologically. Injured ganglion cells in the tuberculum acusticum and atrophic Mauthner-cells are demonstrated by staining with gallocyanin, lateral nerve fibres in the mesencephalon by employing Gleessilver impregnation. Terminals of degenerating lateral nerve fibres could be identified as “boutons terminaux”. The course of the afferent fibres from the lateral line through the metencephalon into the mesencephalon is as follows: Fibres of the lateral-line nerve, directly injured by an inflammation, run from the damaged lateral line to their ganglion cells in the tuberculum acusticum in the medulla; the ganglion cells are degenerated to the limits of visibility; from these cells fibres run to the Mauthner-cells, which became atrophic due to lack of afferent impulses. Other fibres run from the tuberculum acusticum into two regions of the subtectum in the mesencephalon, where they terminate in axo-somatic synapses.