Morphology of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons in the human cerebral cortex

Abstract

In freshly fixed biopsies of human cerebral cortex obtained at surgery, immunocytochemical staining with antibodies against tyrosine hydroxylase (the rate limiting biosynthetic enzyme for catecholamines) revealed, in addition to a dense axonal plexus, a population of immunoreactive cell bodies. The neuronal nature of these cells was ascertained by: i) the presence of a rich rough endoplasmic reticulum in the cell body and of synapses on the cell body and dendrites, and ii) the demonstration of the lack of reactivity with the astroglial marker, glial fibrillary acidic protein, in the tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive cells. The tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons were found in all areas of cortex sampled, and were located almost exclusively in the infragranular layers. Most tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive cells were bipolar and were vertically oriented, but a few had a multipolar or horizontal dendritic arbor. The dendrites of these cells were varicose and aspiny, and the axons were very thin. Tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons were reported to be present transiently in the developing mammalian cerebral cortex and only recently in cerebral cortex of mature mammalian brains. Internuncial neurons in the human cerebral cortex containing a catecholamine synthesizing enzyme would be significant, in particular considering that catecholamines are likely to be involved in some major mental disorders.