Central projections of nerves innervating the rabbit maxillary sinus were localized by using wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) or choleragenoid-horseradish peroxidase (B-HRP). Tracer was placed into the left maxillary sinus; rabbits were killed 3 or 5 days later, and histochemical localization of transported WGA-HRP or B-HRP was performed. Labeled cell bodies (437-545/animal) were seen in the ipsilateral trigeminal ganglion. Very few labeled cell bodies (zero to three/animal) were observed in the contralateral ganglion. The area of cell bodies labeled by WGA-HRP appeared similar to the area of cell bodies labeled by B-HRP. Transganglionic projections from either tracer were localized to lamina II of the ipsilateral subnucleus caudalis. In addition, WGA-HRP labeling was occasionally observed in lamina I. No labeling was present in other areas of the brainstem. In contrast to the above results, other studies have demonstrated that B-HRP produces terminal-like labeling in deeper layers of the gray matter. We injected B-HRP into the infraorbital nerve and sciatic nerve, which are known to contain projections to deep layers of the gray matter. Labeling was observed in the deep layers of the medullary or spinal dorsal horn 5 days later, suggesting that nerves innervating the sinus only project to superficial laminae. These results suggest that neurons in superficial laminae of the subnucleus caudalis may be important for the reflex initiation of the increased glandular secretions in the maxillary sinus during sinusitis.