Adrenergic input from medullary ventrolateral C1 cells to the nucleus raphe pallidus of the cat, as demonstrated by a double immunostaining technique.

By means of a double immunostaining technique using unconjugated cholera-toxin B subunit (CTb) as a retrograde tracer combined with phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase (PNMT) immunohistochemistry, we demonstrated that the nucleus raphe pallidus of the cat receives a major projection from the ventrolateral part of the rostral medulla corresponding to the nucleus paragigantocellularis lateralis and the ventrolateral medullary reticular formation just caudal to it. We further showed that nearly 60% of the total CTb-labeled cells in this region are immunoreactive to PNMT. These double-labeled cells constitute one-third of the total PNMT-immunoreactive cells.