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Volume 17, Number 18,
Issue of September 15, 1997
pp. 6899-6907
Copyright ©1997 Society for Neuroscience
The Dopamine Transporter: Comparative Ultrastructure of
Dopaminergic Axons in Limbic and Motor Compartments of the Nucleus
Accumbens
Received May 5, 1997; revised July 1, 1997; accepted July 1, 1997.
Melissa J. Nirenberg1,
June Chan1,
Alicia Pohorille1,
Roxanne A. Vaughan2,
George R. Uhl3, 4,
Michael J. Kuhar5, and
Virginia M. Pickel1
1 Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Cornell
University Medical College, New York, New York 10021, 2 Neuroscience and 3 Molecular Neurobiology
Branches, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, 4 Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, and
5 Neuroscience Division, Yerkes Regional Primate Center,
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
The dopamine transporter (DAT) regulates extracellular
dopamine concentrations, transports neurotoxins, and acts as a
substrate for cocaine reinforcement. These functions are known to
differ in the limbic-associated shell and motor-associated core
compartments of the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Previous studies have
shown differential expression of DAT in the NAc shell and core but were
limited in resolution to the regional level. Thus, it is not known
whether there are differences in the amount, subcellular localization, or plasmalemmal targeting of DAT within individual dopaminergic axons
in the two regions. We used high-resolution electron microscopic immunocytochemistry to investigate these possibilities. We show that in
both the shell and core, DAT immunogold labeling is present in tyrosine
hydroxylase-immunoreactive varicose axons that form symmetric synapses.
Within these labeled axons, most DAT gold particles are located on
extrasynaptic plasma membranes, but some are associated with
intracellular membranes. Dopaminergic axons in the shell contain lower
mean densities of both total DAT gold particles (per square micron) and
plasmalemmal DAT gold particles (per micron) than those in the core.
Within labeled axons in the NAc shell and core, however, there are no
detectable differences in the subcellullar distribution of DAT or the
percentage of total DAT gold particles that are located on plasma
membranes. These studies are the first to examine and compare the
subcellular localization of DAT in the NAc shell and core. As a result,
they identify intrinsic, cell-specific differences in the expression of
DAT within dopaminergic axons in these functionally distinct striatal
compartments.
Key words:
dopamine transporter;
dopamine reuptake;
immunogold;
accumbens;
striatum;
cocaine;
amphetamine
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