A search for choline acetyltransferase-like immunoreactivity in neurons of cat striate cortex.

The goal of this study was to determine whether cat striate cortex contains neurons with choline acetyltransferase-like immunoreactivity. Two different monoclonal antibodies were applied with various fixation protocols. As controls served selected regions of the cat brain and the rat neocortex where cholinergic neurons had been demonstrated previously with independent methods. All experimental protocols labelled the presumptive cholinergic neurons in the central regions but revealed only a few weakly stained neurons in cat striate cortex. These had a non-pyramidal morphology and were scattered throughout all layers.