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Chemical heterogeneity of the striosomal compartment in the human striatum
Author(s) -
Prensa Lucía,
GiménezAmaya José Manuel,
Parent André
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-9861(19991101)413:4<603::aid-cne9>3.0.co;2-k
Subject(s) - striatum , choline acetyltransferase , biology , parvalbumin , acetylcholinesterase , calretinin , enkephalin , basal ganglia , tyrosine hydroxylase , neuroscience , compartment (ship) , neurochemical , anatomy , pathology , immunohistochemistry , cholinergic , central nervous system , enzyme , dopamine , biochemistry , immunology , medicine , oceanography , receptor , opioid , geology
The neurochemical organization of the striosomal compartment in the human striatum was analyzed by histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques applied to postmortem tissue from normal individuals. The striosomes were delineated by using the following markers: acetylcholinesterase (AChE), enkephalin (ENK), substance P (SP), calbindin‐D28k (CB), parvalbumin (PV), calretinin (CR), limbic system‐associated membrane protein (LAMP), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and NADPH‐diaphorase. Comparisons were made between striosomal boundaries, as outlined by each marker applied on adjacent sections, and particular attention was paid to possible variations in the chemical features of striosomes along the rostrocaudal extent of the striatum. The main findings of this study are as follows: 1) the striosomal compartment is composed of two chemically distinct domains: a core and a peripheral region; 2) the core is largely devoid of CB and displays a less intense staining for ENK and LAMP than the peripheral region; 3) although striosomes are largely devoid of AChE, the activity of this enzyme is slightly higher in the core than in the peripheral region; 4) the core and peripheral regions are weakly stained for PV and intensely stained for SP; 5) ChAT‐, CR‐ and NADPH‐diaphorase‐positive neurons are preferentially distributed in the peripheral region; 6) at rostral striatal levels, striosomes are largely devoid of TH, whereas the inverse is true caudally; and 7) at caudal striatal levels, the peripheral region of striosomes is intensely stained for CB and ChAT. These results demonstrate that the striosomes in human display a strikingly complex and heterogeneous chemical architecture. J. Comp. Neurol. 413:603–618, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.