Immunocytochemical localization of enkephalin and substance P in the dorsal tegmental nuclei in human fetal brain. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) technique is used to examine the localization of methionine [Met 5]-enkephalin and substance P in the dorsal tegmental nuclei of the human fetal brain. Specific antiserum to both peptides is immunocytochemically detectable in neuronal perikarya and varicose processes in the human dorsal tegmental nuclei at 17-21 weeks of gestation. However the two peptides show a differential distribution in the central versus peripheral portions of the nucleus. Enkephalin-like immunoreactivity is primarily localized in perikarya along the pripheral borders of the tegmental nuclei, whereas substance P is present primarily in varicose terminals and a few perikarya in the more central portions. These findings suggest that substance P-containing terminals in dorsal tegmental nuclei are probably derived from afferent axons and that enkephalin is present in intrinsic neurons.

publication date

  • October 1, 1980

Research

keywords

  • Endorphins
  • Enkephalins
  • Limbic System
  • Substance P

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0019212243

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1002/cne.901930315

PubMed ID

  • 6160168

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 193

issue

  • 3