PMC

Stapedial reflex pathways

Fluoro-gold (FG)-labeled tensor tympani motoneuron (TTMN)

Tensor tympani (TT) reflex pathways

Middle ear muscles in man

Polar plot of tensor tympani motoneuron (TTMN) dendritic length and orientation

Electron micrographs of the major terminal types seen on the stapedial motoneuron (SMN) from .

Camera Lucida drawings of ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) labeling

Fluoro-gold (FG)-labeled tensor tympani motoneurons (TTMNs) in a mouse model

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labeled stapedius motoneuron (SMN) in a rat model

Pseudo-rabies virus (PRV)–labeled ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) neurons following injection into the tensor tympani muscle

Bilateral superior olivary complex (SOC) labeling following pseudorabies virus (PRV) injection into the left tensor tympani ()

Electron micrographs of major round vesicle terminal types seen on tensor tympani motoneurons (TTMNs; ) in a rat model

Middle ear muscle reflex interneurons labeled with pseudo-rabies virus (PRV) found in the posteroventral and anteroventral cochlear nucleus (PVCN and AVCN, respectively; ) after 62 hours

Tensor tympani motoneuron (TTMN) subtypes Row A: Micrographs of three fluoro-gold labeled TTMN subtypes found in mice; “octopus-like” (red), “fusiform” (blue) and “stellate” (green). Scale bars: 10 μm. Row B: Left graph shows the total percentage of each TTMN subtype; Most subtypes were octopus-like (52%) and least were stellate (7%). Fusiform were 41%. Middle graph shows the average minor axis diameter (light color) and major axis diameter (dark color) of each TTMN subtype; octopus-like TTMNs were the largest whereas stellate TTMNs were the smallest. Right graph shows the average number of branch points in the first 100 μm of primary dendritic length for each TTMN subtype; stellate TTMNs branched the most.