Laminar distribution of non-principal neurons in the rat hippocampus, with special reference to their compositional difference among layers

Abstract

In the present study we examined the laminar distributions of four types of chemically defined subpopulations of non-principal neurons, that is, those immunoreactive for parvalbumin (PV), calretinin (CR), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and somatostatin (SS), in the rat hippocampus, by estimating their approximate numerical densities (NDs) and percentages in specific layers according to the `disector' principle. CR-immunoreactive (CR-IR) neurons and NOS-IR neurons were scattered throughout layers, but among layers in each subdivision their NDs were largest in the principal cell layers, where 30–45% of CR-IR and NOS-IR somata in each subdivision were located. In addition, CR-IR and NOS-IR somata were also concentrated at the border between the stratum radiatum (SR) and stratum lacunosum moleculare (SLM) in the CA1 region, where the NDs of these neurons were far larger than those in the SR/SLM as a whole and close to those in the stratum pyramidale (SP) (CR-IR somata at the ventral level and NOS-IR somata at the dorsal level) or larger (NOS-IR neurons at the ventral level). The NDs of CR-IR somata were dorsoventrally different in all layers of the CA3 region, the SR/SLM in the CA1 region and the hilus and the granule cell layer (GCL) of the dentate gyrus (DG), whereas the NDs of NOS-IR somata were dorsoventrally different in all layers of the CA3 region and the SP in the CA1 region. In contrast, approx. 90% of somatostatin-like immunoreactive (SS-LIR) neurons were located in the stratum oriens/alveus (SO/SA) in the CA1 region and in the hilus of the DG, where they were the most predominant cell type among the four types of non-principal cells. In contrast, in the CA3 region, SS-LIR somata were scattered in various layers. The majority (50–70%) of PV-IR neurons were located in the principal cell layers, whereas one-fourth to one-third of them were located in the SO/SA and hilus. The NDs in the SP of the CA1 and CA3 regions showed a significant dorsoventral difference. Although PV-IR somata were most numerous among the four non-principal cell groups in the SP of the dorsal CA1 region, they were not necessarily predominant in the principal layers in other regions, that is, in the ventral CA1 region, CA3 region and DG, where the NDs of CR-IR and/or NOS-IR somata were nearly equal to or larger than that of PV-IR somata. The present study not only reveals the laminar distribution patterns of four types of non-principal neurons in each subdivision quantitatively, but also illustrates the prominent differences in the compositions of four types of non-principal cells in each layer of each subdivision.