DISTRIBUTION OF SYMPATHETIC PREGANGLIONIC NEURONS AND MONOAMINERGIC NERVE-TERMINALS IN THE SPINAL-CORD OF THE RAT

Abstract

A study was made of the distribution of sympathetic preganglionic neurons identified by retrograde labeling with horseradish peroxidase from various peripheral nerve trunks and of the distributions of monoaminergic terminals in the spinal cord of the rat. Nerve terminals were stained immunohistochemically by using antisera raised against tyrosine hydroxylase, phenylethanolamine-N-methyl-transferase, neuropeptide Y, and 5-hydroxytryptamine and by using formaldehyde-induced fluorescence. The three-dimensional distribution of sympathetic preganglionic neurons was described by using computer reconstruction and compared with the arrangement of each population of immunohistochemically stained term..