BASAL GANGLIA ORGANIZATION IN AMPHIBIANS - CHEMOARCHITECTURE

Recent studies dealing with the investigation of the afferent and effe rent connections of the basal ganglia of amphibians have revealed many similarities with basal ganglia structures of amniotes. In a further step, the chemoarchitecture of basal ganglia of the frog Rana perezi h as been investigated. For use as main markers of amphibian basal gangl ia structures, antibodies against tyrosine hydroxylase, substance P an d enkephalin were selected. Moreover, the distributions of nitric oxid e synthase (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase his tochemistry), calretinin, dopamine-beta-hydroxylase, choline acetyltra nsferase, mesotocin, vasotocin, somatostatin, neuropeptide Y, neuropep tide FF, and serotonin were studied to corroborate a comparison with b oth basal ganglia and amygdaloid structures of amniotes. On the basis of connections and chemoarchitecture, a striatum proper, nucleus accum bens, dorsal and ventral pallidum, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis , and amygdaloid complex have been identified. Accordingly, a new term inology is proposed that is in line with our current understanding of basal ganglia organization in amphibians. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.