Abstract
Dopamine (DA) axons in the developing striatum cluster in discrete areas called “DA islands”. During the third postnatal week, most DA islands are no-longer detectable and the DA innervation becomes uniform. In this study we explored the relationship between the pattern of DA innervation and the number of striatal tyrosine hydroxylase positive (TH+) cells during early postnatal development. By using dedicated stereology we found that the newborn striatum contains striatal TH+ cells, which cluster around newly sprouted DA axons. The number of these cells decreases when DA axons develop a full pattern of striatal innervation. This condition suggests a causal relationship between the amount of striatal DA innervation and the presence of striatal DA neurons. A better knowledge of the mechanisms regulating the ontogenesis of the nigrostriatal DA system may pave the way to strategies of neurorescue of the DA system.
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Busceti, C.L., Biagioni, F., Mastroiacovo, F. et al. High number of striatal dopaminergic neurons during early postnatal development: correlation analysis with dopaminergic fibers. J Neural Transm 115, 1375–1383 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0112-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-008-0112-x