Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 12, 718-728, Copyright © 1992 by Society for Neuroscience
Distribution of calbindin D28k-like immunoreactivity (LI) in the monkey ventral horn: do Renshaw cells contain calbindin D28k-LI?
U Arvidsson, B Ulfhake, S Cullheim, V Ramirez, O Shupliakov and T Hokfelt
Department of Anatomy, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
By use of indirect immunofluorescence and peroxidase-antiperoxidase
immunohistochemistry, we show that the monkey (Macaca fascicularis) ventral
horn harbors small- to medium-sized neurons in lamina VII as well as a
dense network of fibers in laminae IX and VII that contain calbindin D28k
(calbindin)-like immunoreactivity. The highest frequency of immunoreactive
(IR) cell bodies was found at the levels of the cervical and lumbar
intumescences. Furthermore, rostrocaudally oriented calbindin-IR fibers
were encountered in the ventral and ventrolateral funiculi throughout the
whole length of the cord, with the highest density at cervical and lumbar
intumescences. Analysis at the EM level revealed calbindin-IR terminals in
contact preferentially with dendrites of variable size and occasionally
also large cell bodies, presumably belonging to motoneurons, in the lateral
motor nucleus. The location of calbindin-IR neurons, as well as the
distribution and ultrastructural characteristics of the calbindin-IR axonal
system, makes it highly likely that these neurons are Renshaw cells that
mediate recurrent inhibition to motoneurons.