GABA-containing neurons in the thalamus and pretectum of the rodent. An immunocytochemical study.

Antisera produced by immunizing rabbits with GABA conjugated to bovine serum albumin reacted, after purification, strongly with GABA fixed with glutaraldehyde to rat brain macromolecules, but insignificantly with other fixed amino acids (Storm-Mathisen et al. 1983). Sections through the diencephalon of perfusion-fixed mouse and rat brains showed a highly selective labeling pattern after incubation with these antisera. All cells of the reticular nucleus appeared to be stained. Smaller proportions of stained perikarya occurred in the dorsal and ventral subdivisions of the lateral geniculate body, in the medial geniculate body, in the lateroposterior nucleus, and in all nuclei of the pretectum. Labeled cell bodies were only rarely encountered in the ventrobasal complex, and were not found in the anterior and medial groups of thalamic nuclei. Stained axons were particularly concentrated in the ventrobasal complex, and in the stria medullaris, stria terminalis and inferior thalamic peduncle. The arrangement and density of labeled bouton-like dots varied markedly among nuclei, the highest densities occurring in the paraventricular and parataenial nuclei, and in the ventral subdivision of the lateral geniculate body. The mean staining intensity of the thalamic neuropil was lower than that of nearby structures, such as the hypothalamus and zona incerta. The present results on direct immunocytochemical detection of GABA are consistent with, and extend, data from immunocytochemical studies of the GABA-synthetizing enzyme, glutamic acid decarboxylase.