Cholecystokinin-immunoreactive boutons in synaptic contact with hippocampal pyramidal neurons that project to the nucleus accumbens.

Neurons in the hippocampal formation of the rat that project to the medial nucleus accumbens were identified following the retrograde transport of a conjugate of horseradish peroxidase with wheat germ agglutinin. The great majority of such projecting neurons were located in the ventral subiculum and were pyramidal in shape; the pyramidal nature of 25 such retrogradely labelled neurons was established by Golgi impregnation. In material processed to reveal both retrogradely labelled cells and cholecystokinin-immunoreactivity, no immunoreactive projecting neurons were found. However, 48 identified projecting neurons, probably pyramidal, were found to receive input from cholecystokinin-immunoreactive boutons that formed symmetrical synaptic contacts with the soma or proximal dendrites. It is suggested that one function of cholecystokinin-immunoreactive neurons in the hippocampal formation might be to influence the output of the pyramidal neurons that project to the nucleus accumbens. Since this pathway is one of the main links between the limbic system and the basal ganglia, it is conceivable that changes in the cholecystokinin levels in the hippocampus, as found in schizophrenia, might influence behaviour through the pathway connecting the hippocampus with the nucleus accumbens.