Terminal degeneration demonstrated by the Fink-Heimer method following lateral ventricular injection of 6-hydroxydopamine.

Degenerating terminals were mapped by the Fink-Heimer method after lateral or fourth ventricular administration of 6-hydroxydopamine (60OHDA). This method marks dopaminergic terminals and has the advantage that noradrenergic terminals are not stained. Fink-Heimer stained degeneratig terminals were seen bilaterally in specific patterns in many nuclei known to have a dopaminergic innervation: neostriatum, nucleus accumbens, olfactory tubercle, the dorsolateral and ventral parts of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, laterla septal nucleus, amygdala, and layers II-III of anterior cingulate cortex. Detailed maps are provided of the dopaminergic innervation in the bed nucleus of the atria terminalis in relatin to the cytoarchitectural subdivisions of this nucleus. A Fink-Heimer stained field was discovered in the lateral parabrachial nucleus, suggesting the presence of a previously unreported dopaminergic innervation of this nucleus. It was also noted that nonspecific degeneration near the injection site was much worse after lateral ventricle than after fourth ventricle injection.