Dopaminergic innervation of the monkey caudal nucleus accumbens.
Previous studies have shown that the monkey (Macaca fuscata) caudal nucleus accumbens is neurochemically subdivided into three subdivisions, the medial, dorsolateral, and ventral subdivisions. In this study, dopaminergic innervation of these three subdivisions was studied in detail for the first time by light microscopic immunocytochemistry using a monoclonal antibody against dopamine. The patterns of dopamine fiber distribution were heterogeneous even within each subdivision. The medial subdivision showed extremely dense accumulation of thick dopamine-immunoreactive varicose fibers. Some areas with densely packed cells in Nissl-stained sections corresponded to dopamine-poor areas, while another area with concentrated cells corresponded to a dopamine-rich area. There were also areas with sparse cells that contained a few dopamine-immunoreactive fibers. In the dorsolateral subdivision thick dopamine-immunoreactive varicose fibers were found sparsely among diffuse puncta. The ventral subdivision exhibited similar profiles to those in the dorsolateral one, and there were also many characteristic spiral dopamine-immunoreactive fibers of passage. The present study indicates that the dopaminergic structures of the monkey nucleus accumbens differ according to the subterritories, and are morphologically different from those in the caudate-putamen.
Ikemoto
K
K
Department of Psychiatry, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan.
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008251:Macaca; D008297:Male; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D004298:Dopamine