Eckenstein F, Baughman R W
Nature. 1984;309(5964):153-5. doi: 10.1038/309153a0.
The existence of cholinergic neuronal cell bodies in mammalian cerebral cortex was long the subject of much controversy (see ref. 1 for review). Recently, however, a specific cholinergic marker, the acetylcholine synthesizing enzyme, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT, E.C.2.3.1.6), was demonstrated by immunohistochemical methods to be present in bipolar neurones in rat cortex. Here we show that at least 80% of these intrinsic cholinergic neurones also contain immunoreactivity for vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), a neuroactive peptide found to be present in a subpopulation of cortical neurones. On the other hand, we find that the ChAT-positive cells in the basal forebrain, which are another major source of cholinergic innervation of the cortex, contain no detectable VIP-immunoreactivity. In addition, we have observed by both light and electron microscopy that some VIP- and some ChAT-positive structures in cortex are closely associated with blood vessels.
哺乳动物大脑皮层中胆碱能神经元细胞体的存在长期以来一直是诸多争议的主题（综述见参考文献1）。然而，最近通过免疫组织化学方法证实，一种特定的胆碱能标志物——乙酰胆碱合成酶，即胆碱乙酰转移酶（ChAT，E.C.2.3.1.6），存在于大鼠皮层的双极神经元中。我们在此表明，这些内在胆碱能神经元中至少80%还对血管活性肠肽（VIP）呈现免疫反应性，血管活性肠肽是一种在皮层神经元亚群中发现的神经活性肽。另一方面，我们发现基底前脑的ChAT阳性细胞（皮层胆碱能神经支配的另一个主要来源）未检测到VIP免疫反应性。此外，我们通过光学显微镜和电子显微镜观察到，皮层中的一些VIP阳性结构和一些ChAT阳性结构与血管紧密相关。
