Quantitative light microscopic autoradiography of [3H]hemicholinium-3 binding sites in the rat central nervous system: a novel biochemical marker for mapping the distribution of cholinergic nerve terminals.

The distribution of specific [3H]hemicholinium-3 ( [3H]HC-3) binding sites sites throughout the rat forebrain was studied by means of quantitative light microscopic autoradiography. Tissue sections were labeled with 2.5 nM [3H]HC-3, apposed to tritium-sensitive film for 2 months and analyzed by computer-assisted densitometry. Regions of intense [3H]HC-3 labeling include the caudate-putamen, nucleus accumbens, olfactory tubercle, amygdala, habenula and the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus. Little or no specific binding was detected in the corpus callosum, a white matter region. This distribution of specific [3H]HC-3 binding sites is compatible with a selective labeling of central cholinergic nerve terminals.