Histochemical and cytochemical localization of acetylcholinesterase in the cerebellar cortex of the chicken.

The localization of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was studied in the cerebellar cortex of the crossbred trembler chickens by means of histo- and cytochemical methods. No essential differences between the crossbred normal and the crossbred trembler chickens were observed. The common results were as follows: Under a light microscope AChE activity was predominantly evident in the molecular layer, and secondly in the granular layer. AChE was ultrastructurally distributed principally in the cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and in a part of nuclear envelope of the Purkinje, the Golgi and some of the basket and granule cells, and in a portion of the sacculus of the Golgi apparatus of the Purkinje cell only. In dendrites and the initial axon of the Purkinje cells the smooth ER also showed AChE activity. Although dendritic terminals of the Golgi cells contained AChE reaction products, the axon terminal did not. Some of the afferent terminal fibers forming the cerebellar glomerulus exhibited weakly a positive AChE reaction, while others in the vicinity did not show any AChE activity at all. However, the enzyme reaction product was localized in the intercellular spaces between a presynaptic afferent terminal and the postsynaptic granule cell dendritic terminals in the glomerulus. In addition, AChE activity was found in the form of spots in the intercellular spaces of both molecular and granular layers.