Summary
The organisation of the catecholamine innervation of the rat septal area was investigated by means of the glyoxylic acid fluorescence method in combination with dopamine uptake studies, lesions and retrograde tracing of horseradish peroxidase. The following catecholamine systems to the septum could be established:
The Locus Coeruleus Noradrenergic System
These axons are widespread in the septum forming a moderately dense innervation in the anterior hippocampus, the medial septal nucleus, the nucleus of the diagonal band, and the interstitial nucleus of the stria terminalis, and a sparse innervation in the lateral septal nucleus and the septofimbrial nucleus.
The Medulla Oblongata Noradrenergic System
This system originates in the Al, A2 or A3 cell groups, the axons forming a very dense innervation in the ventral part of the interstitial nucleus of the stria terminalis, a moderately dense innervation in the nucleus of the diagonal band and lateral septal nucleus, and a sparse innervation in the medial septal nucleus, the septofimbrial nucleus and the dorsal part of the interstitial nucleus of the stria terminalis.
The Mesencephalic Dopaminergic System
This system originates in the medial part of the A10 cell group, the axons forming two distinct terminal patterns. In the first type, smooth axons form pericellular arrangements around non-fluorescent neurons in the lateral septal nucleus. The second type is formed by fine-varicose axons which form a dense band around the fornix in the medial part of the lateral septal nucleus.
The Incerto-Hypothalamic Dopaminergic System
These axons most probably originate in cell bodies of the diencephalic A11, A13 and A14 cell groups, and are found in the lateral septal nucleus at the level of the anterior commissure.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agid, Y., Javoy, F., Glowinski, J., Bouvet, D., Sotelo, C.: Injection of 6-hydroxydopamine into the substantia nigra of the rat. II. Diffusion and specificity. Brain Res. 58, 291–301 (1973)
Andén, N.-E., Dahlström, A., Fuxe, K., Larsson, K., Olson, L., Ungerstedt, U.: Ascending monoamine neurons to the telencephalon and diencephalon. Acta physiol. scand. 67, 313–326 (1966)
Assaf, S.Y., Miller, J.J.: Excitatory action of the mesolimbic dopamine system on septal neurones. Brain Res. 129, 353–360 (1977)
Bartholini, G., Stadler, H., Lloyd, K.G.: Cholinergic-dopaminergic relation in different brain structures. In: Frontiers in catecholamine research (E. Usdin and S. Snyder eds.), pp. 741–745. London: Pergamon Press 1973
Berger, B., Tassin, J.P., Blanc, B., Moyne, M.A., Thierry, A.M.: Histochemical confirmation for dopaminergic innervation of the rat cerebral cortex after destruction of the noradrenergic ascending pathways. Brain Res. 81, 332–337 (1974)
Berger, B., Thierry, A.M., Tassin, J.P., Moyne, M.A.: Dopaminergic innervation of the rat prefrontal cortex: a fluorescence histochemical study. Brain Res. 106, 133–145 (1976)
Bialowas, J., Narkiewicz, O.: Acetylcholinesterase activity in the septum of the rat: A histochemical topography. Acta Neurobiol. Exp. 34, 573–582 (1974)
Björklund, A., Falck, B., Owman, Ch.: Fluorescence microscopic and microspectrofluorometric techniques for the cellular localization and characterization of biogenic amines. In: Methods in investigative and diagnostic endocrinology (S.A. Berson, ed.), Vol. I, The thyroid and biogenic amines (J.E. Rail, I.J. Kopin, eds.), pp. 318–368. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publ. Co. 1972
Björklund, A., Lindvall, O., Nobin, A.: Evidence of an incerto-hypothalamic dopamine neurone system in the rat. Brain Res. 89, 29–42 (1975)
Björklund, A., Moore, R.Y., Nobin, A., Stenevi, U.: The organization of tubero-hypophyseal and reticulo-infundibular catecholamine neuron systems in the rat brain. Brain Res. 51, 171–191 (1973)
Brownstein, M., Saavedra, J.M., Palkovits, M.: Norepinephrine and dopamine in the limbic system of the rat. Brain Res. 79, 431–436 (1974)
Carter, D.A., Fibiger, H.C.: Ascending projections of presumed dopamine-containing neurons in the ventral tegmentum of the rat as demonstrated by horseradish peroxidase. Neurosci. 2, 569–576 (1977)
Cuello, A.C., Horn, A.S., Mackay, A.V.P., Iversen, L.L.: Catecholamines in the median eminence: new evidence for a major noradrenergic input. Nature (London) 243, 465–467 (1973)
Dahlström, A., Fuxe, K.: Evidence for the existence of monoamine-containing neurons in the central nervous system. I: Demonstrations of monoamines in the cell bodies of brain stem neurones. Acta physiol. scand. 62, Suppl. 232, 1–55 (1964)
Fox, C.A.: Certain basal telencephalic centers in the cat. J. comp. Neurol. 72, 1–62 (1940)
Fried, P.A.: Septum and behaviour: a review. Psychol. Bull. 78, 292–310, (1972)
Fuxe, K.: Evidence for the existence of monoamine neurons in the central nervous system. IV: Distribution of monoamine nerve terminals in the central nervous system. Acta physiol. scand. 64, Suppl. 247, 39–85 (1965)
Fuxe, K., Hökfelt, T., Johansson, O., Lidbrink, P., Ljungdahl, Å.: The origin of the dopamine nerve terminals in limbic and frontal cortex. Evidence for meso-cortico dopamine neurons. Brain Res. 82, 349–355 (1974)
Hamberger, B.: Reserpine-resistant uptake of catecholamines in isolated tissues of the rat. Acta physiol. scand., Suppl. 295 (1967)
Harkmark, W., Mellgren, S.I., Srebro, B.: Acetylcholinesterase histochemistry of the septal region in rat and human: Distribution of enzyme activity. Brain Res. 95, 281–289 (1975)
Hökfelt, T., Fuxe, K., Johansson, O., Ljungdahl, Å.: Pharmaco-histochemical evidence of the existence of dopamine nerve terminals in the limbic cortex. Europ. J. Pharmacol. 25, 108–112 (1974)
Hökfelt, T., Johansson, O., Fuxe, K., Goldstein, M., Park, D.: Immunohistochemical studies on the localization and distribution of monoamine neuron systems in the rat brain II. Tyrosine hydroxylase in the telencephalon. Med. Biol. 55, 21–40 (1977)
Hökfelt, T., Ljungdahl, Å.: Modification of the Falck-Hillarp formaldehyde fluorescence method using the Vibratome: simple, rapid and sensitive localization of catecholamines in sections of unfixed or formalin fixed brain tissue. Histochemie, 29, 325–339 (1972)
Jacobowitz, D.M., Palkovits, M.: Topographic atlas of catecholamine and acetylcholinesterase-containing neurons in the rat brain. I. Forebrain (telencephalon, diencephalon). J. comp. Neurol. 157, 13–28 (1974)
Jones, B.E., Moore, R.Y.: Ascending projections of the locus coeruleus in the rat. II. Autoradiographic study. Brain Res. 127, 23–53 (1977)
Kizer, J.S., Palkovits, M., Brownstein, M.J.: The projections of the A8, A9 and A10 dopaminergic cell bodies: evidence for a nigral-hypothalamic-median eminence dopaminergic pathway. Brain Res. 108, 363–370 (1976)
Kobayashi, R.M., Palkovits, M., Kopin, I.J., Jacobowitz, D.M.: Biochemical mapping of noradrenergic nerves arising from the rat locus coeruleus. Brain Res. 77, 269–279 (1974)
König, J.F.R., Klippel, R.A.: The rat brain: a stereotaxic atlas of the forebrain and lower parts of the brain stem. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Co. 1963
Koslow, S.H., Racagni, G., Costa, E.: Mass fragmentographic measurements of norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine in seven discrete nuclei of the rat tel-diencephalon. Neuropharmacol. 13, 1123–1130 (1974)
La Vail, J.H., Winston, K.R., Tish, A.: A method based on retrograde axonal transport of protein for identification of cell bodies of origin of axons terminating within the CNS. Brain Res. 58, 470–477 (1973)
Lidbrink, P., Jonsson, G., Fuxe, K.: Selective reserpine-resistant accumulation of catecholamines in central dopamine neurones after DOPA administration. Brain Res. 67, 439–456 (1974)
Lindvall, O.: Mesencephalic dopaminergic afferents to the lateral septal nucleus of the rat. Brain Res. 87, 89–95 (1975)
Lindvall, O.: Combined visualization of central catecholamine- and acetylcholinesterase-containing neurons: application of the glyoxylic acid and thiocholine histochemical methods to the same vibratome section. Histochemistry 50, 191–196 (1977)
Lindvall, O., Björklund, A.: The glyoxylic acid fluorescence histochemical method: a detailed account of the methodology for the visualization of central catecholamine neurons. Histochemistry 39, 97–127 (1974a)
Lindvall, O., Björklund, A.: The organization of the ascending catecholamine neuron systems in the rat brain as revealed by the glyoxylic acid fluorescence method. Acta physiol. scand., Suppl. 412, 1–48 (1974b)
Lindvall, O., Björklund, A., Divac, I.: Organization of mesencephalic dopamine neurons projecting to neocortex and septum. Adv. Biochem. Psychopharmacol. 16, 39–46 (1977)
Lindvall, O., Björklund, A., Divac, I.: Organization of catecholamine neurons projecting to the frontal cortex in the rat. Brain Res. 142, 1–24 (1978)
Lindvall, O., Björklund, A., Moore, R.Y., Stenevi, U.: Mesencephalic dopamine neurons projecting to neocortex. Brain Res. 81, 325–331 (1974a)
Lindvall, O., Björklund, A., Nobin, A., Stenevi, U.: The adrenergic innervation of the rat thalamus as revealed by the glyoxylic acid fluorescence method. J. comp. Neurol. 154, 317–348, (1974b)
Loizou, L.A.: Projections of the nucleus locus coeruleus in the albino rat. Brain Res. 15, 563–566 (1969)
Maeda, I., Shimizu, N.: Projections ascendantes du locus coeruleus et d'autres neurones aminergiques pontiques au niveau du prosencéphale de rat. Brain Res. 36, 19–35 (1972)
Moore, R.Y.: Catecholamine innervation of the basal forebrain. I. The septal area. J. comp. Neurol., in press (1978)
Moore, R.Y., Björklund, A., Stenevi, U.: Plastic changes in the adrenergic innervation of the rat septal area in response to denervation. Brain. Res. 33, 13–35 (1971)
Pickel, V.M., Segal, M., Bloom, F.E.: A radioautographic study of the efferent pathways of the nucleus locus coeruleus. J. comp. Neurol. 155, 15–42 (1974)
Saavedra, J.M., Zivin, J.: Tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine-β-hydroxylase: distribution in discrete areas of the rat limbic system. Brain Res. 105, 517–524 (1976)
Segal, M.: Responses of septal nuclei neurons to microiontophoretically administered putative neurotransmitters. Life Sci. 14, 1345–1351 (1974)
Segal, M.: Brain stem afferents to the rat medial septum. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 261, 617–631 (1976)
Segal, M., Landis, S.C.: Afferents to the septal area of the rat studied with the method of retrograde axonal transport of horseradish peroxidase. Brain Res. 82, 263–268 (1974)
Swanson, L.W., Cowan, W.M.: Autoradiographic studies of the development and connections of the septal area in the rat. In: The septal nuclei (J. DeFrance, ed.), pp. 37–64. New York: Plenum 1976
Swanson, L.W., Hartman, B.K.: The central adrenergic system. An immunofluorescence study of the location of cell bodies and their afferent connections in the rat utilizing dopamine-β-hydroxylase as a marker. J. comp. Neurol. 163, 467–506 (1975)
Tassin, J.P., Thierry, A.M., Blanc, G., Glowinski, J.: Evidence for a specific uptake of dopamine by dopaminergic terminals of the rat cerebral cortex. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. ges. Path. Pharmak. 282, 239–244 (1974)
Ungerstedt, U.: Stereotaxic mapping of the monoamine pathways in the rat brain. Acta physiol. scand., Suppl. 367, 1–48 (1971a)
Ungerstedt, U.: Effect of 6-hydroxydopamine on the monoamine-containing neurons in the CNS. Histochemical studies on the effect of intracerebral and intraventricular injections of 6-hydroxydopamine on monoamine neurons in the rat brain. In: 6-Hydroxydopamine and catecholamine neurons (T. Malmfors and H. Thoenen, eds.), pp. 101–127. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publ. Co. 1971b
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lindvall, O., Stenevi, U. Dopamine and noradrenaline neurons projecting to the septal area in the rat. Cell Tissue Res. 190, 383–407 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00219554
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00219554