Ultrastructural evidence of dopaminergic input to enkephalinergic neurons in rat neostriatum.
The synaptic relationship between neuronal structures reacting with antibodies to tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and Leu- or Met-enkephalin (ENK) was studied by the 'mirror technique' in adjacent sections of rat neostriatum. TH-immunoreactive (TH-IR) axonal boutons surrounding the neural perikarya and proximal dendrites of ENK-immunoreactive (ENK-IR) neurons were very thin (0.1-0.4 micrograms). They contained many small clear vesicles and sometimes had symmetrical membrane specializations. This provides morphological evidence for catecholaminergic, presumably dopaminergic inputs to rat striatal enkephalin neurons.
Kubota
Y
Y
Inagaki
S
S
Kito
S
S
Takagi
H
H
Smith
A D
AD
D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D004745:Enkephalins / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013569:Synapses / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
D004745:Enkephalins; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D004298:Dopamine