• Applied Microscopy
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.383-403
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• 1999

This study was performed to investigate the immunohistochemical and ultrastructural characterization of the choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-immunoreactive nerve cells in the diagonal band of Broca of the rat basal forebrains, utilizing techniques of immunohistochemical and immunocytochemical microscopy. The ChAT-immunoreactivities were shown within neuronal cell bodies and processes by the light micoscope. According to cell shape and ratio of long axis vs short axis of cell body, the ChAT-immunoreaclive nerve cells in both vertical and horizontal limbs of the diagonal band of Broca were classified into 6 types. at the light microscopic level; round, oval, elongated, fusiform, triangular and polygonal types. As a result of the electron microscopic observation, the ChAT-immunoreactivated products appeared on the outer nuclear envelope, membranes of rough endoplasmic reticula (rER), free ribosomes and polysomes. Each cell type was subdivided into subtype I and II according to the several criteria such as volume of cell body, nuclear size relative to the cytoplasm, kinds and distribution of cell organelles and numbers and sorts of synapses. The subtype I of immnunoreactive nerve cells had large cell body and a small nucleus showing shallow indentations of nuclear evelope. In this subtype I with abundant cytoplasm, rER were well differentiated. Their long cisternae were parallelly ditributed and lamellated. One or two lamellar bodies and nematosomes were observed. The subtype II cell had small cell body and a large nucleus with deep indentations of nuclear envelope. In this subtype II with small cytoplasm, the rER were irregularly distributed and the lamellar body and nematosome were not found. A few axosomatic synapses in the subtype I and II were shown to be symmetric or asymmetric. The ratios of the symmetric synapse to the asymmetric one were investigated to be 1 : 2 and 1 : 4 in the subtype I and II, respectively. The axodendritic ones were almost asymmetric. But, the fusiform and triangular immunoreactive nerve cells were shown only to be subtype I. According to observations in this study, it is considered that the ultrastructural characterization in the 2 subtypes of each cell type may reflect the differences of the metabolic activities and projecting distances to the target cells.