Topographic atlas of monoamine oxidase-containing neurons in the rat brain studied by an improved histochemical method.

The distribution of monoamine oxidase-containing neuronal somata was studied in the rat brain by using an improved enzyme histochemical technique of the coupled peroxidatic oxidation method applied to fixed free-floating sections. The majority of monoamine oxidase-containing neuronal somata appeared to correspond with well-known cell groups of monoamine-containing neurons with a few exceptions. The enzyme appeared to coexist also in histamine-containing neurons in the posterior hypothalamus. Furthermore, monoamine oxidase activity was localized in apparently non-monoaminergic cells in the mesencephalon, hypothalamus, thalamus and telencephalon.