Morphological and histochemical characterization of three types of dopamine-containing neurons in primary cultures of mouse and rat spinal cord.

Although the anatomical localization and distribution of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, has been extensively studied in the vertebrate central nervous system, the cell bodies of neurons which synthesize and store this transmitter were not thought to be present in the spinal cord. Using the formaldehyde-glutaraldehyde (Faglu) method for the fluorescent visualization of catecholamines, and immunohistochemistry with antisera to the catecholamine synthetic enzymes, we have found in primary cultures of mouse and rat spinal cord three morphologically distinct types of intrinsic spinal cord neurons that contain a catecholamine and the rate-limiting enzyme for catecholamine synthesis, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH).