Somatostatin immunoreactive structures in the developing rat spinal cord.

Somatostatin immunoreactive (SOM-I) perikarya were first observed in the ventral horn at E12, in the presumptive intermediate gray area at E14, and in the alar plate of the rostral spinal cord at E14. In general, after their initial appearance, their density increased and then decreased during development. A moderate density of SOM-I varicosities became obvious in the superficial laminae of the E20 dorsal horn. By E12 a few SOM-I perikarya, interpreted to be dorsal root ganglia, were observed lateral to the spinal cord, and by E13, SOM immunoreactivity was visualized within the central and peripheral processes of dorsal root ganglion axons. In the marginal zone, SOM-I fibers were first demonstrable in the ventral funiculus at E14, and in the lateral funiculus at E15. After their initial appearance, their density increased and then decreased with age, with the exception of the dorsal part of the lateral funiculus where it increased at the early stages of development to an apparently stable level. The early detection of SOM immunoreactivity in specific spinal regions corresponds well with the birth dates of cells in those regions. This indicates that the SOM-I cells are capable of synthesizing the substance at least as early as they have entered their final cell division.