B. Rico et C. Cavada, A POPULATION OF CHOLINERGIC NEURONS IS PRESENT IN THE MACAQUE MONKEY THALAMUS, European journal of neuroscience, 10(7), 1998, pp. 2346-2352
Three new cholinergic markers were employed to study the cholinergic i
nnervation in the thalamus of adult macaque monkeys. They were: two an
tibodies against choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), one polyclonal and
one monoclonal; and a polyclonal antibody against the vesicular transp
orter of acetylcholine (VAChT), a powerful new marker that colocalizes
with ChAT. This approach led to an unexpected finding: the three anti
bodies positively immunostained a population of neurons in the paracen
tral nucleus. The immunostained cells are confined to the dorsal regio
n of this nucleus along its rostrocaudal extent. Measurement of the so
matic areas of the immunostained neurons indicated that they correspon
d to a population of large neurons thought to be projection neurons. B
ecause dorsal paracentral neurons are known to project to the dorsal s
triatum and specific cortical areas involved in visual and visuomotor
mechanisms, these structures might be modulated by cholinergic thalami
c neurons.