Location of the cell bodies of the superior rectus and inferior oblique motoneurons in the cat.

Stimulation of the inferior oblique and superior rectus branches and of the whole oculomotor nerve was carried out in cats while recording either gross or unit activity within the region of the oculomotor nucleus. On the basis of a number of criteria, unit responses were selected to represent antidromic activation of cell bodies in that nucleus. For the superior rectus, these were found to be located in the contralateral caudal half of the nucleus. For the inferior oblique, antidromically activated cells appeared to be scattered throughout the ipsilaterol anteroposterior extent of the nucleus, although predominating in its caudal poi-tion. No evidence was found for a dorsoventral or lateral organization of these subnuclei cells within the main nucleus.