The types of neurones in the neostriatum of the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus): Golgi and Klüver-Barrera studies

The Golgi technique stain was used to reveal the cellular structure of the neostriatum (nucleus caudatus and putamen) in the guinea pig. The computerised reconstructions were made from Golgi impregnated neurones. On the basis of various criteria, 4 types of neurones were distinguished in the guinea pig neostriatum: 1. The rounded neurones (most numerous) with 5–8 thin dendritic trunks; 2. The triangular nerve cells with 3 thick dendritic trunks; 3. Two types of multipolar neurones differing in dendritic arborisation pattern with 4–6 and 7–9 primary dendrites, respectively. 4. The pear-shaped cells, which divide into two distinctly different subpopulations

A comparative study of the mammalian amygdala: a Golgi study of the basolateral amygdala

The lateral (LA), basolateral (BL) and basomedial (BM) amygdaloid nuclei were compared in the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) fox (Vulpes vulpes) and pig (Sus scrofa) by using the Golgi techniques. The interspecific comparisons of the individual basolateral nuclei have shown that the neuronal structure in each of them is extremely stable and remains almost unchanged in the series of animals studied. The only difference is the size of the basolateral neurons, which increases with the increasing size of the brain. Moreover, the intraspecific comparisons revealed that in all the animals studied LA, BL and BM form a fairly homogenous mass of cells in which similar cell types are present. The most numerous neurons in all basolateral nuclei are the spiny cells that often show a pyramidal or semi-pyramidal appearance (the Type I cells). Many of these have conical cell bodies and easily recognisable "apical" and "basal" dendrites. The Type II neurons are the most common variety of non-pyramidal cell and have round cell bodies and smooth or sparsely spined dendrites. The axons of these cells often form a dense terminal field that remains in the vicinity of the parent soma. The Type III cells, which are only occasionally seen, are small spine-sparse neurogliaform neurons with a few extremely delicate beaded dendrites and a poorly branching local axon. These neurons were only located in LA and BL

A morphometric study of the amygdala in the common shrew

The characteristic features of the common shrew amygdala (CA), as shown by volumetric comparisons of the individual nuclei, are the poor development of the lateral (LA) and basomedial (BM) nuclei as well as the particularly strong formation of the basolateral (BL) and lateral olfactory tract (NLOT) nuclei. The central (CE), cortical (CO) and medial (ME) nuclei are also well organised in this species. All these features are even more distinctly visible when the total number of neurons in the nuclei referred to are compared. A comparison of the densities of neurons in the individual nuclei with the mean numerical density of cells in the CA indicates that there are the 3 different regions within the common shrew&#8217;s CA. The densities of neurons in the LA, BL, and BM are significantly lower than the mean density of cells in the CA (p < 0.05). In the CE this value does not differ from the mean (p > 0.05). In the CO, ME and NLOT the density values are significantly higher than the mean (p < 0.05). Furthermore, a similar division of the shrew&#8217;s CA can, to some extent, be performed using the size parameters of the amygdaloid neurons as a marker. Interestingly, the large neurons populate less densely organised CA areas like the LA, BL and BM, whereas the small cells populate the ME and NLOT, where the neurons are densely arranged. The CE and CO occupy intermediate positions, with the neurons similar in size to the mean for the shrew&#8217;s CA

The neuronal structure of the red nucleus in newborn guinea pigs

The preparations, stained according to the Nissl and Klüver-Barrera methods, were used to describe the topography and morphology of the red nucleus (RN) as well as the structure of the rubral perikarya in newborn (P0) guinea pigs. The Golgi impregnated preparations were used to distinguish types of neurons. RN is a uniform cell group and has the length from 740 to 860 &micro;m. The Nissl stained perikarya were classified into three categories: big, medium-sized and small (A, B, C, respectively). The big perikarya, which contain a lot of tigroidal substance, were mainly observed at the caudal and ventral portions of RN. The small perikarya often have multiple nucleoli. The impregnated neurons were classified into 5 types: 1 - large, aspiny, rich-arborised multipolar cells, 2 - large and medium sized, spiny, rich-arborised fusiform or pear-shaped cells, 3 - medium-sized, spiny, rich-arborised rounded cells, 4 - medium-sized, spiny, richarborised bipolar cells, 5 - small and single medium-sized cells. The 5th type constitutes a heterogeneous population and also has neurons in different developmental stages. Intraspecies variations concerning both the length of RN and a number of the triangular perikarya of the red nucleus were observed in the examined guinea pigs

The cytoarchitectonic and neuronal structure of the red nucleus in guinea pig: Nissl and Golgi studies

The present studies were carried out on the brains of adult guinea pigs, Dunkin-Hartley strain. On the basis of preparations, they were stained according to the Nissl and the Klüver-Barrera method's; a short description of the cytoarchitectonics and the characteristics of the rubral cells were written. The red nucleus (RN) of the guinea pig is 1.2 mm in length. Three cellular parts in RN, and three classes (A, B, C) of the rubral cells were distinguished. Taking into consideration the predominant cell size, RN was divided into magnocellular part (RNm), parvocellular part (RNp) and intermediate part (RNi). On the basis of Golgi impregnated preparations four neuronal types (I, II, III, IV) were distinguished. To sum up, in the guinea pig were observed: the large, mainly multipolar (type I) and bipolar (type II) spiny being coarse (class A) in Nissl material; the medium-sized, triangular, aspiny (type III) corresponding to the fine cells (class B); and the small, both spiny and aspiny neurons (type IV), which are the fine or achromatic cells (classes B or C) in Nissl stained slices. The highest degree of dendritic branching was observed in type I, whereas the lowest in cells of types III and IV

A morphometric study of the amygdala in the guinea pig

The characteristic features of guinea pig amygdala (CA), as shown by volumetric comparisons of the individual nuclei, are the poor development of the basolateral (BL) and lateral olfactory tract (NLOT) nuclei as well as the strong formation of the lateral (LA) and basomedial (BM) nuclei. The central (CE), cortical (CO) and medial (ME) nuclei also appear to be well represented in this species. All these features are even more pronounced when the total number of neurons in the nuclei referred to was taken into consideration. A comparison of the densities of neurons in the individual nuclei with the mean numerical density of cells in the guinea pig CA indicates that the densities of neurons in LA, BL, BM, CE and CO are significantly lower than the mean (p < 0.05), whereas in the ME and NLOT these values are significantly higher than the mean (p < 0.05). It is noteworthy, that the densities of the neurons in CE and CO do not differ statistically from each other (p > 0.05) and are significantly higher than the respective values in LA, BL and BM (p < 0.05). Furthermore, a similar division of the guinea pig CA may to some extent be made using the size parameters of the amygdaloid neurons as a marker. Interestingly, the large neurons populate organised CA areas like LA, BL and BM less densely, whereas the small cells create ME and NLOT, where the neurons are densely arranged. CE and CO occupy intermediate positions, with the neurons similar in size to the mean for the guinea pig CA

Distribution and chemical coding pattern of somatostatin immunoreactivity in the dorsal striatum of the guinea pig

The present study provides a detailed description of somatostatin (SOM) distribution and the colocalization pattern of SOM, neuropeptide Y (NPY) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in the dorsal striatum (caudate-putamen complex) of the guinea pig. Within the dorsal striatum, SOM is found in a population of medium-sized aspiny interneurons. We found that 97% of all SOM-IR neurons expressed NPY simultaneously, while 98% of all NPY-ergic perikarya was simultaneously SOM-IR. On the other hand, while 98% of all SOM-IR cells were simultaneously NOS-IR, only 91% of all NOS-containing neurons exhibited SOM-immunoreactivity. Irrespective of their chemical coding, both types of SOM-IR neurons were scattered throughout the dorsal striatum, sometimes in the form of small, loosely arranged clusters of 2&#8211;4 cells. While SOM-IR and NPY-IR nerve fibers were present in all of the studied regions, they were more numerous in the ventro-medial part of the studied structure, with the exception of its caudal portion, where SOM-IR and NPY-IR fibers additionally formed a dense network in the part corresponding to the caudate nucleus. A low expression of staining for NOS-IR fibers was seen throughout the entire dorsal striatum. In some fibers, SOM and NPY were co-expressed. Fibers expressing both SOM and NOS were not found. (Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2011; Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 690&#8211;699

Somatostatin-like immunoreactivity in the amygdala of the pig.

The distribution and morphology of neurons containing somatostatin (SOM) was investigated in the amygdala (CA) of the pig. The SOM-immunoreactive (SOM-IR) cell bodies and fibres were present in all subdivisions of the porcine CA, however, their number and density varied depending on the nucleus studied. The highest density of SOM-positive somata was observed in the layer III of the cortical nuclei, in the anterior (magnocellular) part of the basomedial nucleus and in the caudal (large-celled) part of the lateral nucleus. Moderate to high numbers of SOM-IR cells were also observed in the medial and basolateral nuclei. Many labeled neurons were also consistently observed in the lateral part of the central nucleus. In the remaining CA regions, the density of SOM-positive cell bodies varied from moderate to low. In any CA region studied SOM-IR neurons formed heterogeneous population consisting of small, rounded or slightly elongated cell bodies, with a few poorly branched smooth dendrites. In general, morphological features of these cells clearly resembled the non-pyramidal Golgi type II interneurons. The routine double-labeling studies with antisera directed against SOM and neuropeptide Y (NPY) demonstrated that a large number of SOM-IR cell bodies and fibers in all studied CA areas contained simultaneously NPY. In contrast, co-localization of SOM and cholecystokinin (CCK) or SOM and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) was never seen in cell bodies and fibres in any of nuclei studied. In conclusion, SOM-IR neurons of the porcine amygdala form large and heterogeneous subpopulation of, most probably, interneurons that often contain additionally NPY. On the other hand, CCK- and/or VIP-IR neurons belonged to another, discrete subpopulations of porcine CA neurons

Distribution and chemical coding pattern of the cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) immunoreactivity in the preoptic area of the pig

This study provides a detailed description of cocaine-and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) distribution and the co-localization pattern of CART and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), somatostatin (SOM), neuropeptide Y (NPY), cholecystokinin (CCK), and substance P (SP) in the preoptic area (POA) of the domestic pig. The POA displays a low density of immunoreactive cells and rich immunoreactivity for CART in fibers. CART-immunoreactive (CART-IR) cell bodies were single and faintly stained, and located in the medial preoptic area (MPA) and the periventricular region of the POA. A high density of immunoreactive fibers was observed in the periventricular preoptic nucleus (PPN); a high to moderate density of fibers was observed in the MPA; but in the dorso-medial region of the MPA the highest density of fibers in the whole POA was observed. The lateral preoptic area (LPA) exhibited a less dense concentration of CART-immunoreactive fibers than the MPA. The median preoptic nucleus (MPN) showed moderate to low expression of staining fibers. In the present study, dual-labeling immunohistochemistry was used to show that CART-IR cell bodies do not contain any GnRH and SP. CART-positive fibers were identified in close apposition with GnRH neurons. This suggests that CART may influence GnRH secretion. Double staining revealed that CART-IR structures do not co-express any of the substances we studied, but a very small population of CART-IR fibers also contain SOM, CCK or SP. (Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2011; Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 604&#8211;614