Immunocytochemical study of serotoninergic and noradrenergic innervation of the ventrobasal complex of the rat thalamus.
Whereas the anatomy and function of monoaminergic afferents to the spinal cord areas involved in somesthesia and pain have been widely studied, little is known about the monoaminergic innervation of the primary somatosensory thalamic relay nucleus. The present study demonstrates immunocytochemically at both the light and the electron microscopic levels the presence of noradrenergic and serotoninergic fibers in the ventrobasal complex of the rat thalamus (VB). Despite the presence of numerous immunoreactive varicosities, synaptic differentiation was not observed at the level of apposition of membranes between monoaminergic afferents and VB neuronal profiles. The hypothesis of a non-synaptic modulation of VB neuronal activity by monoaminergic afferents is discussed.
Nothias
F
F
Unité de Recherches de Neurophysiologie Pharmacologique, INSERM U 161, Paris, France.
Onteniente
B
B
Roudier
F
F
Peschanksi
M
M
D000320:Adrenergic Fibers / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure
D012701:Serotonin; D009638:Norepinephrine