Catecholaminergic input to spinally projecting serotonin neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla oblongata of the rat.

The midline of the rostral ventral medulla (RVM) is the portion in which many serotonin (5-HT) neurons of the nucleus raphe magnus and the rostral nucleus raphe pallidus are located and where dense catecholaminergic (CA) fibers are distributed. In this study, we investigated the connection between spinally projecting 5-HT neurons and CA fibers in the rat RVM by light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. First, light microscopic immunocytochemistry using a triple labeling method revealed that the 5-HT-immunoreactive (IR) neuron containing retrograde tracer from the cervical cord was intimately surrounded by tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-IR fibers. Second, silver-gold intensified TH-IR axon terminals were found to make synaptic contacts with 5-HT-IR neuronal perikarya and dendrites by double labeling immunoelectron microscopy. These morphological findings suggest that spinally projecting 5-HT neurons, presumed to be involved in pain modulation or sympathetic autonomic control, are directly regulated by CA neurons at the level of the RVM.