Methods

Abstract

The data presented in this book were obtained from the study of normal and experimental material from rats and primates. This investigation involved light microscopy of reference sets of celloidin sections stained by the Nissl and Klüver-Barrera methods; light and electron microscopy of Golgi preparations, electron microscopy of normal and experimental ablation material, fluorescence microscopy, silver and degeneration methods. Some of the experimental approaches used are of recent development: afferent source tracing with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) after retrograde axoplasmic transport; efferent projections tracing by means of anterograde axoplasmic transport of labeled protein; localization of catecholamine and indoleamine axons by light and electron microscopic autoradiography after administration of exogenous radioactive transmitter molecules, their precursors or their analogs. Adaptation and specific technical improvements of these methods were necessary because they were applied to the study of a particular cerebelar nucleus, deeply embedded in the brain, in two different species.