Tyrosine hydroxylase-like immunoreactivity is distributed in the matrix compartment of normal human and Huntington's disease striatum.
Tyrosine hydroxylase-like immunoreactivity (TH-lir) was examined in the adult human neostriatum and found to be heterogeneously distributed. Comparison of TH-lir with adjacent sections stained for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity showed that TH-lir is confined to the AChE-rich matrix compartment. TH-lir persists within the matrix zone, which is reduced in Huntington's disease (HD), suggesting that the nigrostriatal AChE projection may contribute to the persistent AChE patch-matrix pattern in HD. Despite marked striatal atrophy, the density of TH-immunoreactive fibers and terminals remained unchanged. This represents a loss of TH-positive extrinsic afferents in HD proportionate to striatal atrophy.
D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000032:analysis; D000368:Aged; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000201:enzymology*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000201:enzymology*; D007158:Immunologic Techniques; D008875:Middle Aged; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000032:analysis*
D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase