Differences in tyrosine hydroxylase-like immunoreactivity characterize the mesostriatal innervation of striosomes and extrastriosomal matrix at maturity.

Tyrosine hydroxylase [TyrOHase, tyrosine 3-monooxygenase, L-tyrosine, tetrahydropteridine:oxygen oxidoreductase (2-hydroxylating), EC 1.14.16.2] is the rate-limiting enzyme in the synthetic pathway of catecholamines and is expressed by neurons containing dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. TyrOHase is present in high concentrations in the caudate nucleus and putamen, where nearly all of it is contained in axons of the dopaminergic mesostriatal pathways. We have employed three different polyclonal antibodies directed against TyrOHase, one tested here for specificity by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, to reexamine the anatomic distribution of fibers expressing TyrOHase-like immunoreactivity in the striatum of mature human, monkey, and cat brains. The findings suggest that this distribution is distinctly inhomogeneous. The macroscopic compartments known as striosomes have low TyrOHase-like immunoreactivity relative to the surrounding extrastriosomal matrix. These observations add to evidence that dopaminergic modulation of neural processing in the mature striatum is organized in accordance with striosomal architecture and suggest that part of the mechanism for such differentiation may involve presynaptic differences in enzymatic regulation of dopamine content in and out of striosomes.