Immunocytochemical detection of GABAergic nerve cells in the human striatum and cerebellum using a gamma-aminobutyric acid antiserum.
We have adapted the immunocytochemical technique which allows direct detection of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) which has enabled us to visualize GABA-immunoreactive nerve cell bodies, fibers and terminals in post-mortem human striatum and cerebellum. A high density of GABA-immunoreactive nerve cell bodies is detected in the striatum. They are mostly medium-sized with a mean cross-sectional area of 236 +/- 80 ?m(2) but some larger nerve cell bodies with a mean cross-sectional area of 547 +/- 104 ?m(2) are also present. These neurons are most probably essentially spiny neurons type I and type II identified in the human striatum by the Golgi method. In the cerebellum, Purkinje, stellate, Golgi and basket cells are GABA-immunoreactive. In the dentatus nucleus of the cerebellum a high density of presumptive synaptic GABA-immunoreactive terminals surround the GABA-negative neurons. As predicted by animal studies the present results demonstrate that GABAergic neurons are widely distributed in the human striatum and cerebellum. They demonstrate also that GABA-immunocytochemistry can be successfully performed on post-mortem human tissue fixed by immersion after short post-mortem delay and that application of this technique may lead to a better understanding of pathological conditions involving the GABAergic transmission.
Schiffmann
S N
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Laboratory of Neuropathology and Neuropeptide Research, Brugmann and Erasme Academic Hospitals, Faculty of Medicine, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus Anderlecht, CP 601, 808 Route de Lennik, B-1070, Brussels, Belgium.
Vanderhaeghen
J J
JJ