Abstract
Although cell-stained sections have suggested heterogeneity in the neostriatum1, more conclusive evidence has come from selective neurochemical staining for receptors, enzymes or neural connections. For example, opiate receptors in the rat striatum are concentrated in discrete islands and in a streak under the corpus callosum2,3—regions that lack any visible morphological distinction. In the monkey, cortical afferent fibres terminate in intricate patterns4. In the cat striatum, variations in the intensity of acetycholinesterase (AChE) staining5 coincide with complex mosaic patterns of striatal efferent neurones, with cortical afferent terminations6 and with enkephalin-like immunoreactivity7. In both cats8 and monkeys9, thalamic afferent fibres, from the parafascicular–centre median complex, terminate in discrete clusters. Even the intensely studied nigrostriatal dopamine pathway, previously assumed to project diffusely throughout the caudate, can be shown to be heterogeneous by pharmacological methods10. To extend this evidence, we decided to examine, on serial sections of the same rat striatum, four different histological markers of striatal heterogeneity. We now report that there is a precise mosaic ‘fit’ in striatal ‘islands’ of closely packed opiate receptors, vacancies in the termination of parafascicular projections and AChE-poor zones.
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Herkenham, M., Pert, C. Mosaic distribution of opiate receptors, parafascicular projections and acetylcholinesterase in rat striatum. Nature 291, 415–418 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/291415a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/291415a0
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