Premium
Two types of tyrosine hydroxylase‐immunoreactive amacrine cell in the rhesus monkey retina
Author(s) -
Mariani Andrew P.,
Hokoc Jan N.
Publication year - 1988
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/cne.902760106
Subject(s) - inner plexiform layer , biology , amacrine cell , inner nuclear layer , retina , tyrosine hydroxylase , ganglion cell layer , catecholaminergic , microbiology and biotechnology , outer plexiform layer , population , cell type , neuroscience , anatomy , cell , dopamine , biochemistry , demography , sociology
Two types of amacrine cell immunoreactive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate‐limiting enzyme in the catecholamine (CA)‐synthetic pathway, are described in the rhesus monkey retina with the indirect‐immunofluorescent method. These 2 types of neuron differ in soma size, plane of arborization in the inner plexiform layer, levels of the enzyme TH as quantified by microspectrofluorometry, and population density. Type 1 CA cells have comparatively large cell bodies almost exclusively in the innermost row of the inner nuclear layer; their processes arborize in the outermost stratum of the inner plexiform layer; they give rise to fine predominantly radially oriented fibers in the inner nuclear layer; and there are about 26 type 1 CA cells/mm 2 . Type 2 CA amacrine cells have relatively small cell bodies located in the inner nuclear layer (44.4%), the inner plexiform layer (35.6%) and the ganglion cell layer (20 %), and their processes arborize in the center of the inner plexiform layer. Although type 2 CA amacrine cells are more numerous (35 cells/mm 2 ) than type 1 CA cells, type 1 CA amacrine cells are 3.5 X brighter than type 2 CA cells and therefore likely to contain 3.5 X more TH. Thus the primate retina contains 2 distinct catecholaminergic neuronal pathways that could have different functional roles in vision.