Development of nitric oxide amacrine cells in the chick embryo retina

RIOS, H; LOPEZ COSTA, JJ; FOSSER, N; BRUSCO, A; PECCI SAAVEDRA, J

Developmental Brain Research

Elsevier

Año: 2000 vol. 120 p. 17 - 25

Nitric oxide NO. is a gas involved in neurotransmission in the central nervous system CNS. and in vertebrate retinas. This paperdescribes five types of nitrergic neurons in developing and adult chick retina using the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphatediaphorase NADPHd. reaction. Three of them, nitrergic types 1, 2 and 3, were observed in the inner nuclear layer, while nitrergic type 4was observed in the ganglion cell layer; nitrergic type 5 were the retinal photoreceptors. Cell processes formed four nitrergic networks,which could be observed in the inner plexiform layer IPL., at sublayers 1, 3a, 3b and 4. Another nitrergic network was observed in theouter plexiform layer OPL.. From hatching, the dendritic branches were completely developed in the IPL and in the OPL, forming thementioned networks. Current evidence suggests that NO is coexpressed with other neurotransmitters in neurons of the CNS.Double-staining procedures, using NADPHd and 5HT immunohistochemistry in chicken retina, in a sequential or in an alternativemanner, did not reveal the coexistence of these two neurotransmitters in the same neurons, but their networks matched in sublayers 1 and4 of the IPL. q2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.