Dye coupling between dorsal raphe neurones.

Neurones in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) were impaled and filled with biocytin in coronal slices of midbrain taken from young adult rats. The electrophysiological properties and gross morphology of the cells were similar to those reported previously for serotonergic neurones in the DRN. Of 27 cases in which filled neurones were recovered in histological material, almost half (48%) showed labelling of two or three cells, although only one cell had been recorded from. Coupled cells were identified as close or distantly coupled, depending on the distance from the soma of the presumed impaled cell (23.5 +/- 15 microns, n = 7 and 150 +/- 26.5 microns, n = 10 respectively). Whereas close-coupled cells may have been artefactually "coupled" by the penetrating electrode, coupling between distant cells is most likely to be a result of transfer of biocytin through gap junctions. Camera lucida reconstructions of pairs of labelled cells revealed extensive overlap of dendritic fields and numerous crossings between dendrites. When examined at high magnification under a light microscope, many of the crossing dendrites were found to travel in different focal planes. Nevertheless, for each pair of cells, at least one point of close apposition was observed between dendrites or between the axon and a dendrite of the presumed impaled and coupled cell. The incidence of dye coupling between neurones in the DRN may reflect a relatively high level of electronic coupling between the neurones. This form of coupling may be important in determining the synchronous nature of firing of neurones in the DRN.