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The nucleus pararaphales in the human, chimpanzee, and macaque monkey

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Abstract

The human cerebral cortex and cerebellum are greatly expanded compared to those of other mammals, including the great apes. This expansion is reflected in differences in the size and organization of precerebellar brainstem structures, such as the inferior olive. In addition, there are cell groups unique to the human brainstem. One such group may be the nucleus pararaphales (PRa); however, there is disagreement among authors about the size and location of this nucleus in the human brainstem. The name “pararaphales” has also been used for neurons in the medulla shown to project to the flocculus in the macaque monkey. We have re-examined the existence and status of the PRa in eight humans, three chimpanzees, and four macaque monkeys using Nissl-stained sections as well as immunohistochemistry. In the human we found a cell group along the midline of the medulla in all cases; it had the form of interrupted cell columns and was variable among cases in rostrocaudal and dorsoventral extent. Cells and processes were highly immunoreactive for non-phosphorylated neurofilament protein (NPNFP); somata were immunoreactive to the synthetic enzyme for nitric oxide, nitric oxide synthase, and for calretinin. In macaque monkey, there was a much smaller oval cell group with NPNFP immunoreactivity. In the chimpanzee, we found a region of NPNFP-immunoreactive cells and fibers similar to what was observed in macaques. These results suggest that the “PRa” in the human may not be the same structure as the flocculus-projecting cell group described in the macaque. The PRa, like the arcuate nucleus, therefore may be unique to humans.

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Acknowledgments

Supported in part by the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University at Buffalo and the James S. McDonnell Foundation, grant 22002078 to CCS and PRH and 220020293 to CCS. Raquel Lima, Nicolas Paolone and Vitaly Kramer provided invaluable technical assistance. The authors are grateful to Debra L. Kigar for help in selecting the cases from the Witelson Normal Brain Collection and with the dissections of those cases, and to David B. Bender for the gift of a rhesus monkey brain. The authors also thank Wade Sigurdson of the Confocal Microscope and Flow Cytometry Facility in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo for help with fluorescence microscopy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University at Buffalo, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, 123 Sherman Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14214, USA

    Joan S. Baizer & Nadav Weinstock

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, Hamilton, ON, L8N 3Z5, Canada

    Sandra F. Witelson

  3. Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    Chet C. Sherwood

  4. Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Patrick R. Hof

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  1. Joan S. Baizer
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Correspondence to Joan S. Baizer.

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Baizer, J.S., Weinstock, N., Witelson, S.F. et al. The nucleus pararaphales in the human, chimpanzee, and macaque monkey. Brain Struct Funct 218, 389–403 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-012-0403-8

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