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The lateral hypothalamic area

An ultrastructural analysis

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Summary

An ultrastructural analysis of the rat lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) was undertaken in order to provide an initial step in the characterization of this complex area which appears to participate in a number of important neural functions. The organization of the normal tuberal LHA was compared to the area following acute and chronic denervating lesions. In the normal animal, the principal features of the LHA are the presence of lateral hypothalamic neurons, a major sagittal pathway (the medial forebrain bundle, MFB) and the interposed neuropil richly populated by a variety of synaptic terminal types. Alterations in the synaptic organization of the LHA following rostral and caudal MFB lesions were most pronounced in animals with acute and chronic caudal lesions. A 10% reduction of synaptic terminals containing 800–1000 Å diameter dense core vesicles and a 10% increase in terminals containing lucent core vesicles was observed in animals with caudal lesions while no significant redistribution of synaptic terminal types occurred with rostral lesions. The preliminary degeneration experiments indicate that identification of the numerous and diverse afferents to the LHA neuropil may be aided by this method but that a detailed and systematic ultrastructural analysis will be required to identify sources of input with certainty.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Veterans Administration Hospital, San Diego, California

    Jack C. Sipe M.D.

  2. Department of Neurosciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California

    Jack C. Sipe M.D. & Robert Y. Moore

Authors
  1. Jack C. Sipe M.D.
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  2. Robert Y. Moore
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Additional information

Presented in part at the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Bal Harbour, FLA, 1975

Recipient of Research Associate Award, Veterans Administration

Supported by the Veterans Administration and by NIH Grants NS 12080. Skilled technical assistance was provided by Robin Isaacs, Marilyn Woodward and Sharon Keigher

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Sipe, J.C., Moore, R.Y. The lateral hypothalamic area. Cell Tissue Res. 179, 177–196 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00219795

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