Serotonergic and non-serotonergic raphe neurons projecting to the feline lumbar and cervical spinal cord: a quantitative horseradish peroxidase-immunocytochemical study.
A quantitative study of raphe-spinal neurons and serotonergic neurons in 3 medullary raphe nuclei in the cat indicates that more than 80% of the raphe-spinal neurons that project to the spinal cord are serotonergic raphe-spinal neurons in each of the nuclei. More than 85% of the descending raphe-spinal neurons in the two caudal nuclei, nucleus raphe pallidus and nucleus raphe obscurus, are serotonergic, whereas 75% of the raphe-spinal neurons in the more rostrally placed nucleus raphe magnus contain serotonin (5-HT). These results are discussed in relation to descending systems containing both neuropeptides and 5-HT and collateralizing to several spinal segments.
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D007120:Immunochemistry; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000378:metabolism*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*
D012701:Serotonin; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase