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Types and spatial distribution of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-containing synapses in the rat visual cortex

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Summary

In the rat visual cortex vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-containing structures were studied by means of light and electron microscopy and image analysis. VIP-immunoreactive axon terminals were found to form symmetric synapses with small dendritic shafts, dendritic spines and somata of pyramidal cells and interneurons. VIP-terminals often occured in pairs with VIP-negative, asymmetric synapses on the same postsynaptic structure. VIP-immunostained dendrites and perikarya were contacted by a purely asymmetric and a mixed population of VIP-negative terminals, respectively. Synaptic connections between two VIP-neurons are seldom as compared to the other types of VIP-synapses. Quantitative studies obtained by the image analysis of VIP-stained boutons and dendritic particles in light microscopic preparations suggest a distinct laminar distribution. Dendritic particles are most frequent in layers I–II, whereas axonal boutons have three laminar accumulations: at the border of layers I–II, in layer IV and layer VI. Together with previous results, the present findings argue for a non-random spatial distribution of VIP-boutons.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. First Department of Anatomy, Semmelweis University Medical School, 1450, Budapest, Hungary

    Ferenc Hajós & Mihály Kálmán

  2. Anatomical Institute, University of Köln, Joseph Stelzmann Strasse 9, D-5000, Köln 41, Federal Republic of Germany

    Karl Zilles & Axel Schleicher

Authors
  1. Ferenc Hajós
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  2. Karl Zilles
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  3. Axel Schleicher
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  4. Mihály Kálmán
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Hajós, F., Zilles, K., Schleicher, A. et al. Types and spatial distribution of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-containing synapses in the rat visual cortex. Anat Embryol 178, 207–217 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318224

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318224

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