The frequency and distribution of medium-sized neurons with indented nuclei in the primate and rodent neostriatum.
Nuclear morphology is known to distinguish two classes of medium-sized neurons in the neostriatum, spiny projection neurons which have an unindented nucleus and aspiny interneurons which exhibit enfoldings of their nuclear envelope. The frequency and distribution of medium-sized neostriatal neurons with indented nuclei were examined in the light microscope in semi-thick sections. Results showed that the proportion of neostriatal neurons with nuclear indentations was greater in the monkey (23%) than in the mouse and rat (4-5%). Also, nuclear enfoldings were found in more neurons of the monkey caudate than putamen, whereas in the rodent regional differences were not observed. Findings suggest that aspiny interneurons play a greater role in the integrative and functional organization of the neostriatum in the primate than in the rodent brain.
D000818:Animals; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008251:Macaca / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008252:Macaca fascicularis / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D051379:Mice / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000145:classification / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011699:Putamen / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains