The Journal of comparative neurology
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The macula lagenae, an otolithic hair-cell organ with probable vestibular function, lies close to the apical end of the avian auditory hair-cell epithelium, the papilla basilaris. In an earlier study in the pigeon in which lesioning techniques were used, Boord and Rasmussen ([1963] J. Comp. ⋯ Our results thus imply that there is no processing of information from the macula lagenae in the cochlear nucleus of the chicken. In addition, we studied the origin of the few labeled efferent neurons in the brainstem. The location of all somata encountered was restricted to an area medial to the nucleus facialis dorsalis and corresponded to the dorsal efferent cell group, from which efferents to other vestibular organs also originate.