Nonbinary branching of myelinated dendrites at nodal networks on afferent terminal arbors in paddlefish electroreceptors

Abstract

The branching of vertebrate neuronal processes, axons or dendrites, is predominantly binary, where a proximal neuronal process bifurcates into two distal progeny. Here, we illustrate counterexamples where neuronal processes branched into more than 2, up to 6, progeny branches, in one step. These were branch points of myelinated dendrites in the peripheral terminals of ALLn cranial nerve afferents innervating the Lorenziniantype ampullary electroreceptors on the rostrum of paddlefish, Polyodon spathula. We imaged afferent terminals fluorescently (in widefield stacks, with deconvolution) after immunolabling of afferent terminals for neuronal cytoplasmic neurofilament-H (NEFH), myelin markers (MBP, P0), or nodal ion channels (Nav1.x, Kv1.1), or after migration of DiI in dendrite membranes. Branched afferent terminals formed a laminar radial radiation beneath a receptive field, parallel to the skin surface, with two serial stages: (1) Starting at each afferent’s centric first branchpoint, each of a small group of 2–4 (most often 3) afferents branched radially into 2–4 (usually 3) generations of myelinated dendrites, whose internodes were covered by sheaths immunoreactive for antigenic markers of myelin (MBP+/P0+), ending distally at ~15 heminode presumed spike initiation zones. (2) From the latter, bundles of unmyelinated (MBP-/P0-) sensory neuron (NEFH+) processes projected distally to innervate electrosensory neuroepithelia of adjacent ampullary organs. The nonbinary branch points that we imaged were in stage-1, on myelinated dendrites. Branch points always coincided with composite systems of nodes, in which each progeny dendrite started at a narrowed nodal segment expressing voltage gated sodium ion channels at high density. These narrowed nodal segments of multiple progeny branched in parallel from a parent’s blunt distal end. Hence the branch point nodal complexes formed multisite excitable systems, likely strongly coupled due to proximity.