The Division of Human Anatomy and Structural Biology

William M. Falls, Ph.D.
Ohio State University; Professor

Dr. Falls currently serves as Associate Dean/Student Services in the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.  Past research interests include neuroanatomical studies of two trigeminal sensory nuclei in the adult rat. The long-term objectives of these studies are to delineate the synaptic circuitries in trigeminal nuclei oralis (Vo) and interpolaris (Vi) in order to understand and explain how nociceptive (pain) and mechanoreceptive (tactile) information transmitted from the orofacial region by primary trigeminal neurons is processed and relayed to other centers in the brain and spinal cord. Current studies are concerned with the synaptic connections of the sensory root of the trigeminal nerve, the morphology of the neurons which comprise Vo and Vi, and efferent projections of neurons in these nuclei to targets in the brain and spinal cord. These studies employ light and electron microscopy, the Golgi method, the retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and the method of anterograde transport of Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L).

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