VESICULAR ACETYLCHOLINE TRANSPORTER (VACHT) - A CELLULAR MARKER IN RAT RETINAL DEVELOPMENT

A polyclonal goat antiserum against the C-terminal end of the rat vesi cular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) was used to examine the postna tal expression of this protein in the rat retina. The transporter prot ein was localized in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-positive, cholin ergic interneurones (so-called starburst amacrine cells) in the inner retina. During postnatal development the VAChT was expressed from post natal day 1 onward by the two subsets of these cholinergic amacrine ce lls. The immunocytochemical detection of the VAChT provides a specific marker for the study of developing cholinergic neurones in the rat re tina, which so far has only been monitored by ChAT immunoreactivity in the second postnatal week.