The catecholaminergic system of the quail brain: immunocytochemical studies of dopamine beta-hydroxylase and tyrosine hydroxylase.

The distribution of dopamine beta-hydroxylase and tyrosine hydroxylase, two key enzymes in the biosynthesis of catecholamines, was investigated by immunocytochemistry in the brain of male and female Japanese quail. Cells or fibers showing dopamine beta-hydroxylase and tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity were considered to be noradrenergic or adrenergic, while all structures showing only tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity were tentatively considered to be dopaminergic. The major dopaminergic and noradrenergic cell groups that have been identified in the brain of mammals could be observed in the Japanese quail, with the exception of a tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic group. The dopamine beta-hydroxylase-immunoreactive cells were found exclusively in the pons (locus ceruleus and nucleus subceruleus ventralis) and in the medulla (area of the nucleus reticularis). The tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive cells had a much wider distribution and extended from the preoptic area to the level of the medulla. They were, however, present in larger numbers in the area ventralis of Tsai and in the nucleus tegmenti pedunculo-pontinus, pars compacta, which respectively correspond to the ventral tegmental area and to the substantia nigra of mammals. A high density of dopamine beta-hydroxylase- and tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive fibers and punctate structures was found in several steroid-sensitive brain regions that are implicated in the control of reproduction. In the preoptic area and in the region of the nucleus accumbens-nucleus stria terminalis, immunonegative perikarya were completely surrounded by immunoreactive fibers forming basket-like structures. Given that some of these cells contain the enzyme aromatase, these structures may represent the morphological substrate for a regulation of aromatase activity by catecholamines. The dopamine beta-hydroxylase-immunoreactive fibers were also present in a larger part of the preoptic area of females than in males. This sex difference in the noradrenergic innervation of the preoptic area presumably reflects the sex difference in norepinephrine content in this region.