Histochemical demonstration of separate populations of somatostatin and cholinergic neurons in the rat striatum.

Striatal neurons containing acetylcholine and somatostatin were examined using a pharmacohistochemical procedure for acetylcholinesterase and NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry respectively. The use of these two histochemical procedures allowed both cholinergic and somatostatin cells to be visualized simultaneously in single sections of the striatum. The results indicate that somatostatin and acetylcholine are contained in separate populations of striatal neurons and illustrate the utility of simple histochemical procedures to visualize biochemically defined neurons.