Distribution of substance P-like immunoreactivity in the goldfish brain.

Immunohistochemical methods were used to study the distribution of SP-like immunoreactivity (SPLI) in the brain of the common goldfish (Carassius auratus). SPLI cell bodies and fibers were seen in distant areas and nuclei throughout the brain. In the telencephalon, SPL1 was found in the area dorsalis telencephali pars centralis and pars lateralis, areas that have been compared to the basal ganglia of land vertebrates. In the diencephalon, SPLI somata were seen in the hypothalamus. Four primary visual centers contained SPLI fibers: the nucleus of the posterior commissure, the area pretectalis, the nucleus dorsolateralis thalami and the optic tectum; the origin of these fibers could not be determined. SPLI cell bodies were seen in the oculomotor nucleus; the possibility that this may be the Edinger-Westphal nucleus is discussed. A high density of immunoreactive fibers was seen in the tractus retroflexus and the interpeduncular nucleus, though the habenula showed a few SP-like immunopositive fibers. In the hindbrain, SPLI cell bodies and fibers were seen in the nuclei ambiguus and commissuralis of Cajal and in the dorsal motornucleus of the vagus nuclei; even though these nuclei are known to belong to the visceral and sensory motor columns, the exact role SP plays in processing this information is at present unknown.