Heterogeneous and compartmental distribution of zinc in the striatum and globus pallidus of the rat.

The distribution of vesicular or chelatable zinc was analysed in the dorsal and ventral subdivisions of the striatum and globus pallidus of the rat with Danscher's selenium method. Acetylcholinesterase and Calbindin-D28k were used as striatal and pallidal markers in order to analyse the possible compartmentalization of the distribution of zinc in the striatum and globus pallidus. The main findings of this study are the following: (1) The distribution of vesicular zinc in the dorsal striatum was heterogeneous. A peripheral rim of tissue heavily stained for zinc was detected in the medial, dorsal and lateral striatal areas, along most of the rostrocaudal extent of the striatum. addition, patch-like zones intensely stained for zinc were prominent in the rostral half of the caudate-putamen complex. (2) In some regions of the rostral half of the caudate-putamen complex, the staining for zinc appeared to follow the well-known striatal patches (striosomes)/matrix organization. However, in other regions of the rostral half of the striatum such a relation was not detected. (3) The ventral striatum also showed a heterogeneous staining for zinc. Thus, in the most ventral part of the caudate-putamen complex, both subdivisions of the nucleus accumbens and parts of the olfactory tubercle displayed different patterns of compartmentalized distribution of zinc. In the dorsal half of the shell of the nucleus accumbens, some patches with an intense reaction for zinc seemed to overlap with acetylcholinesterase-poor patches. (4) There was a remarkable absence of staining for zinc in the globus pallidus. This histochemical study illustrates, on the one hand, the high content of vesicular zinc in the dorsal and ventral subdivisions of the striatum, which was distributed following different patterns of chemical compartmentalization, and on the other hand, the absence of vesicular zinc in the globus pallidus of the rat.