Morphology, density and distribution of tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactive cells in the retina in the gerbil Meriones shawi. Relationships with horizontal cells.
Dopamine neurons have been demonstrated with the use of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunohistochemistry in the retina of Meriones shawi, a wild species of pigmented sand rat, in order to compare their morphology, density, and distribution with those in albino laboratory rat. The morphology and density of TH-immunoreactive cells were quite comparable in the two species: the dopamine cell population was composed of amacrine cells, displaced amacrine cells, and interplexiform cells, these latter being more numerous in the albino rat. The distribution of dopamine cells was more homogeneous in the sand rat retina where a peak density in the area centralis was not observed. The relationships between TH-immunoreactive cells and horizontal cells, demonstrated by their immunoreactivity to calbindin, have been observed in view of the dopamine action driven by scleral processes of interplexiform cells. A close vicinity occurred between 40% of the TH-immunoreactive cell and horizontal cell somata within the inner nuclear layer.
INSERM Unité de Recherche d'Ophtalmologie, Paris, France.
Y
Y
Larabi
J
J
Nguyen-Legros
D000818:Animals; D005849:Gerbillinae; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012160:Retina / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology*; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology*; D064030:S100 Calcium Binding Protein G / Q000032:analysis; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000032:analysis*
D064030:S100 Calcium Binding Protein G; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase