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Ontogeny of cholinergic amacrine cells in the opossum ( Didelphis aurita ) retina
Author(s) -
Camargo De Moura Campos Lenira,
Hokoç Jan Nora
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of developmental neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.761
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1873-474X
pISSN - 0736-5748
DOI - 10.1016/s0736-5748(99)00061-1
Subject(s) - inner plexiform layer , opossum , choline acetyltransferase , inner nuclear layer , biology , ganglion cell layer , retina , cholinergic , immunocytochemistry , amacrine cell , synaptogenesis , ganglion , population , microbiology and biotechnology , anatomy , neuroscience , endocrinology , demography , sociology
Immunocytochemistry for choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), the synthesizing enzyme for acetylcholine, was used to determine the onset and to follow the maturation of the cholinergic cells in the retina of a marsupial, the South American opossum ( Didelphis aurita ). ChAT‐immunoreactivity was first detected in amacrine cells in the ganglion cell layer by postnatal day 15 (P15) and in the inner nuclear layer by P35. Much later, at P50 a second sub‐population of ChAT‐immunoreactive cell bodies was evident in the inner nuclear layer. Processes from ChAT‐immunoreactive amacrine cells were detected in the two bands of the inner plexiform layer before synaptogenesis. In the adult retina, these two bands correspond to sublamina 2 and 4 of the inner plexiform layer. In flat whole‐mounted preparations, cholinergic cell density was 263±13 cells/mm 2 in the ganglion cell layer and it was estimated a total of 24,000 cholinergic neurons. ChAT‐immunoreactive somata showed a random pattern of distribution.