The use of dopamine -hydroxylase as a marker for the central noradrenergic nervous system in rat brain.

Improvements in the method for localization of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase by immunofluorescence allow the observation of noradrenergic-cell bodies, non-terminal fibers, and axon terminals in the rat brain. The distribution of the hydroxylase correlated well with the results obtained by localization of norepinephrine. Dopamine-beta-hydroxylase was not observed in dopaminergic neurons or terminals, indicating that these cells do not have the capacity to synthesize norepinephrine. The use of the hydroxylase as a marker, however, has made it possible to visualize noradrenergic nerve terminals on small arteries in the brain parenchyma that have not been described by catecholamine-fluorescence histochemistry. The source of the terminals on small arteries appears to be central noradrenergic neurons rather than the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. Dopamine-beta-hydroxylase generally was not observed in the large arteries of the brain parenchyma. These observations suggest that cerebral microcirculation is regulated by central noradrenergic neurons.