Golgi, histochemical, and immunocytochemical analyses of the neurons of auditory-related cortices of the rhesus monkey.

Morphological characteristics of the neurons of the auditory cortical areas of the rhesus monkey were investigated using Golgi and horseradish peroxidase methods. Neurons of the auditory cortices can be segregated into two categories, spinous and nonspinous, which can be further subclassified according to their dendritic arrays. The spinous neurons include pyramidal, "star pyramid," multipolar, and bipolar cells. As in other cortices, pyramidal cells are found in layers II-VI and appear to be the most numerous of all cortical neurons. The "star pyramids" have radially oriented dendrites with a less prominent apical shaft and are found mainly in the middle cortical layers. The spinous multipolar neurons are also found in the middle cortical layers and have their dendrites radially arrayed but have no apical dendrite. The spinous bipolar cells, found in the infragranular layers, occur most frequently in the lateral auditory association cortex. The nonspinous neurons include neurogliaform, multipolar, bitufted, and bipolar cells and are found in all cortical layers. The neurogliaform cells are the smallest of all neurons and have radially arrayed, recurving dendrites. The nonspinous multipolar cells also have radially arrayed dendrites but vary in size from being confined to one cortical layer to extending across four laminae. The bitufted neurons are subclassified into three groups: neurons whose primary dendrites arise radially from their somata, those whose dendrites arise from two poles of their somata, and those that have a single primary dendrite arising from one pole and multiple dendrites from another pole of their somata. The nonspinous bipolar cells also have several variants but usually have dendrites arising from two poles of the somata. The chemical characteristics of the auditory neurons were investigated using histochemical and immunocytochemical methods. Peptidergic neurons, i.e., cholecystokinin-, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-, somatostatin-, and substance P-reactive neurons are found in the various subregions of the auditory cortices and are distributed differentially in the cortical laminae. These neurons are of the nonpyramidal type. Gamma aminobutyric acid-reactive neurons are also nonpyramidal cells and they are found in all cortical layers. Their numbers varied among the cortical laminae in the different auditory regions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)