title: Monoclonal antibody Cat-301 selectively identifies a subset of nuclei in the cat's somatosensory thalamus.
abstract: Recently it has been demonstrated that the monoclonal antibody Cat-301 is capable of identifying functionally related neurons in the mammalian visual thalamus. We have examined the possibility that this antibody might display a similar capacity in nonvisual thalamic areas. We demonstrate that in the cat's somatosensory thalamus the distribution of Cat-301-positive cells and neuropil is restricted to a subset of nuclei. These include the ventroposterior medial, ventroposterior lateral, and ventroposterior inferior nuclei. Staining with Cat-301 provides a clear visualisation of the entire somatotopic map within these nuclei. The somatosensory sector of the thalamic reticular nucleus and the perireticular nucleus, which may have a somatosensory sector, are also Cat-301-positive. In contrast, cells that do not express the Cat-301 antigen are located in the ventroposterior oralis nucleus, the ventroposterior shell region, the medial and lateral divisions of the posterior nuclear group, and the inner small cell region adjacent to the thalamic reticular nucleus. In comparison with previous physiological studies, cells that express the Cat-301 antigen most likely represent subpopulations in only a few of the somatic submodality-specific groups. These include cells in the small-field and Pacinian cutaneous-responsive groups, excluding cells in the wide-field cutaneous-, muscle-, joint-, and noxious-responsive groups. Taken together these findings indicate that monoclonal antibody Cat-301 is capable of selectively identifying neurons with distinct functional properties in the mammalian somatosensory thalamus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Anatomy, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Crabtree
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Kind
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000032:analysis; D002415:Cats; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D009474:Neurons / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase