Myelin and myelinization in the telencephalon and mesencephalon of the lizard Gallotia galloti as revealed by the immunohistochemical localization of myelin basic protein.

We have studied in the telencephalon and mesencephalon of the lizard Gallotia galloti the localization and the chronology of appearance of the immunoreactivity due to the presence of a myelin-specific protein: the Myelin Basic Protein (MBP). MBP-like immunoreactivity was present with different degrees of intensity in many nerve fibers (isolated, in tracts and in commissurae) and it was apparently more abundant in mesencephalon. During ontogeny the earliest MBP-like immunoreactivity was detected at E.36 in few tracts in mesencephalon and appeared at E.40 in telencephalon, proceeding caudo-rostrally and from the ventral (basal) to the dorsal (alar) regions. Accumulation of MBP continued after hatching. Oligodendrocyte cell bodies were not immunopositive, not even at the youngest ages studied.