Demonstration of L-dopa decarboxylating neurons specific to human striatum.
In the human striatum, we immunohistochemically demonstrated many neurons that were immunoreactive for aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC; the second step dopamine-synthesizing enzyme) but not for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH; the first step dopamine-synthesizing enzyme). The number of AADC-positive neurons was especially large in the ventral striatum including the nucleus accumbens. The significance of AADC-positive neurons are discussed in relation to the acting sites of L-dopa and antipsychotic drugs.
Ikemoto
K
K
Departement de Médecine Expérimentale, INSERM U52, CNRS ERS 5645, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France. kikemoto@fujita-hu.ac.jp
Kitahama
K
K
Jouvet
A
A
Arai
R
R
Nishimura
A
A
Nishi
K
K
Nagatsu
I
I
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001142:Aromatic-L-Amino-Acid Decarboxylases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008251:Macaca; D008875:Middle Aged; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000378:metabolism; D011699:Putamen / Q000378:metabolism; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D001142:Aromatic-L-Amino-Acid Decarboxylases