Sebestény T, Tömböl T
Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Semmelweis University Medical School, Budapest, Hungary.
Ann Anat. 1998 Apr;180(2):97-111. doi: 10.1016/S0940-9602(98)80001-0.
In Golgi preparations of the chicken diencephalon, various types of cells and fibres were studied in the nucleus dorsolateralis anterior thalami (DLA). Two groups of neurons were found: projection neurons with long axons and interneurons with locally branching axons. The projection neurons varied in the different areas of the DLA. In the medial part the neurons are large cells with long, moderately spiny dendrites, and in the dorsal part there are small cells with short, wavy and moderately spiny dendrites. These neurons differ completely from those found in the rostral and lateral parts, where the neurons have medium-sized cell bodies and curving, spiny dendrites, which branch tuft-like or with bifurcations. In the rostral and lateral parts of the DLA, thick afferent fibres were impregnated which developed their terminal branchings among the neurons. Owing to their terminal branching pattern and the shape of the terminals they are thought to be optic fibres. The terminal pattern of these fibres is similar to the optic terminals in the LGB of the mammalian brain. The interneurons are GABA positive, as attested by immunostaining in light microscopic and EM specimens. There are rather few of them. The HRP-filled projection neurons and the surrounding neuropil were investigated under EM: synaptic connections around the large terminals and/or around dendrites were identified, but this synaptic arrangement does not display the characteristics of a synaptic glomerulus.
