title: Silver impregnation of dopaminergic systems after radiofrequency and 6-OHDA lesions of the rat ventral.
abstract: Nauta and Fink-Heimer silver impregnation techniques were used to study the anterior degeneration produced by radiofrequency (RF) or 6-OHDA lesions in the medial and lateral ventral mesencephalic tegmentum (VMT), substantia nigra and dorsalis tegmental decussation (DTD) in rats. Both Nauta and Fine-Heimer impregnating methods showed that RF lesion of the VNT produced degeneration in three major pathways: a ventral pathway corresponding to the fasciculus medialis prosencephali (FMP), an intermediate pathway projecting to the ventral thalamus, and a dorsal pathway to the medio-dorsal thalamus and to the nucleus lateralis habenulae. In addition, the Fink-Heimer method demonstrated prejections of the dopaminergic A10 and A9 cell group in the VMT to the nucleus caudatus after RF or 6-OHDA lesions. Projections to nucleus accumbens, tuberculum olfactorium, stria terminalis, and cortex frontalis were observed only after 6-OHDA lesion of the A10 cell group. Degeneration in cortex cinguli and entorhinalis was seen mainly after 6-OHDA lesion of the A9 cell group. The limbic forebrain cortical projections of the A10 group provide a coherent anatomical basis for the behavioral syndrome provoked by RF and 6-OHDA lesions in the VMT.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004027:Diencephalon / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D004564:Electrocoagulation; D006892:Hydroxydopamines; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways; D011833:Radiation Injuries, Experimental; D011846:Radio Waves; D051381:Rats; D012183:Retrograde Degeneration; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000502:physiology*; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D006892:Hydroxydopamines; D004298:Dopamine