McDonald A J, Betette R L
Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia SC 29208, USA.
Neuroscience. 2001;102(2):413-25. doi: 10.1016/s0306-4522(00)00481-4.
Parvalbumin is a calcium-binding protein that is contained in certain neuronal populations in the brain. Although the exact function of parvalbumin is not clear, it has been found to be a useful marker for studying the connections of specific cell types in immunohistochemical studies. In the present investigation immunohistochemical techniques were used to study the morphology of parvalbumin-containing neurons in the rat basolateral amygdala. These neurons were found to be a morphologically heterogeneous subpopulation of non-pyramidal interneurons. Parvalbumin-positive axons in the basolateral amygdala were observed to form "pericellular baskets" that enveloped the perikarya of pyramidal neurons. In addition, some parvalbumin-immunoreactive axons formed "cartridges" that appeared to surround non-immunoreactive processes. The morphology of parvalbumin-positive neurons closely resembled that of neurons containing calbindin, a related calcium-binding protein. Analysis of adjacent sections stained for each protein using the mirror technique revealed that approximately 80% of parvalbumin neurons also contained calbindin, and that approximately 60% of calbindin neurons also contained parvalbumin. This study demonstrates that parvalbumin-containing neurons constitute an important subpopulation of non-pyramidal interneurons in the rat basolateral amygdala. The axonal configurations of these cells indicate that they may exert a potent inhibitory influence over pyramidal projection neurons. We suggest that parvalbumin-containing neurons can control emotional responses mediated by the basolateral amygdala by controlling the output from this important brain region.
小白蛋白是一种钙结合蛋白，存在于大脑中的某些神经元群体中。虽然小白蛋白的确切功能尚不清楚，但在免疫组织化学研究中，它已被发现是研究特定细胞类型连接的有用标记物。在本研究中，采用免疫组织化学技术研究大鼠基底外侧杏仁核中含小白蛋白神经元的形态。这些神经元被发现是形态上异质的非锥体中间神经元亚群。观察到基底外侧杏仁核中含小白蛋白的轴突形成“细胞周篮”，包裹着锥体神经元的胞体。此外，一些免疫反应阳性的小白蛋白轴突形成“小体”，似乎围绕着非免疫反应性突起。含小白蛋白神经元的形态与含钙结合蛋白（一种相关的钙结合蛋白）的神经元非常相似。使用镜像技术对每种蛋白质染色的相邻切片分析显示，约80%的含小白蛋白神经元也含有钙结合蛋白，约60%的含钙结合蛋白神经元也含有小白蛋白。这项研究表明，含小白蛋白的神经元构成大鼠基底外侧杏仁核中非锥体中间神经元的一个重要亚群。这些细胞的轴突结构表明它们可能对锥体投射神经元施加强大的抑制性影响。我们认为，含小白蛋白的神经元可以通过控制这个重要脑区的输出，来控制由基底外侧杏仁核介导的情绪反应。
