Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 8, 518-542, Copyright © 1988 by Society for Neuroscience
Neuronal populations stained with the monoclonal antibody Cat-301 in the mammalian cerebral cortex and thalamus
SH Hendry, EG Jones, S Hockfield and RD McKay
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine 92717.
The monoclonal antibody Cat-301 was used to examine neurons in the cerebral
cortex and dorsal thalamus of several mammalian species, including Old
World monkeys, cats, bush babies, guinea pigs, and rats. In each species,
subpopulations of cortical and thalamic neurons are stained along the
surfaces of their somata and proximal dendrites. Cat- 301-positive cortical
neurons include specific groups of pyramidal cells (e.g., corticospinal but
not corticobulbar or callosal neurons in the monkey sensory-motor areas)
and certain GABA-immunoreactive nonpyramidal cells. In the thalamus, the
relay neurons projecting to the cortex and not the intrinsic neurons are
stained. The Cat-301- positive neurons are nonhomogeneously distributed in
the cat and monkey cortex and thalamus. In the cortex, they are densely
packed in 2 bands that in most areas include layers III and V, but that in
primary sensory areas include layers IV and VI. Because the density of
stained neurons, their distribution, and the intensity of their staining
vary among cortical areas, the borders between neighboring areas can often
be detected by the differences in Cat-301 staining. Broader, regional
differences are also readily apparent, for areas in the parietal and
occipital lobes contain large numbers of intensely stained cells, but most
areas in the frontal and temporal lobes contain fewer, more lightly stained
neurons. The same broad differences are seen within the thalamus: only
those nuclei reciprocally connected with intensely stained cortical areas
contain large numbers of Cat-301-positive neurons. Differences among
species include variations in cell density and distribution when a given
cortical area or thalamic nucleus is compared between cats and monkeys.
Greater differences are seen among the other species. Immunoreactive
neurons in the cerebral cortex are sparse and lightly stained in guinea
pigs, are restricted to the hippocampal formation in rats, and are very
rare and isolated in bush babies. Similarly, Cat-301-positive thalamic
neurons are restricted to only one or 2 nuclei in the guinea pig and rat
and are extremely rare in the bush baby. Cat-301 stains organized groups of
neurons in the cat and monkey cortex and thalamus. In addition to the
laminar organization of stained cells in all cortical areas (see above),
the Cat-301- positive neurons of monkey areas 17 and 18 are grouped into
radial arrays. In area 17, clusters of stained cells are present in layers
above and below layer IVC. These clusters lie at the centers of ocular
dominance columns, within patches stained for cytochrome oxidase (CO). Most
of these cells are also GABA-immunoreactive.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400
WORDS)
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