title: Development of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-containing neurons in organotypic slice cultures from rat visual cortex.
abstract: Using immunohistochemistry we have been studying the postnatal maturation of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-positive neurons in organotypic slice cultures from rat visual cortex. The development in vitro is compared with the occurrence of VIP-containing cells in vivo, where they are first observed around postnatal day 5. A further increase in number and morphological maturation occurs within the following 3 weeks. In cultures prepared from 1- or 2-day-old rats, i.e. before VIP is expressed in vivo, VIP-containing neurons appear after about 5 days and gradually increase in number over the next 2 weeks. Thus the time course of postnatal expression of VIP in vitro and the morphology of VIP-immunoreactive neurons in culture closely matches the situation in vivo. These observations suggest that the maturation of VIP-containing neurons occurs independently of cortical afferents and that the intrinsic connectivity and activity is sufficient for their postnatal maturation. Therefore organotypic slice cultures should be a suitable system to study mechanisms of neurochemical maturation in the cortex.
authors.affiliation: Friedrich-Miescher-Labor der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Tübingen, F.R.G.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Götz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bolz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D051381:Rats; D014660:Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide / Q000378:metabolism*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014660:Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide