Monoamine neuron systems in the normal and schizophrenic human brain: fluorescence histochemistry of fetal, neurosurgical and post mortem material

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the monoamine neuron systems in the normal and schizophrenic human brain. Fluorescence microscopy of the adult human brain is complicated by the heavy accumulations of lipofuscin in neurons and glia having a strong yellow autofluorescence. In vitro incubations of thin slices of tissue with α-methyl-NA sometimes following preincubation in 6-OH-Dopamine or DMI were carried out. Nerve densities and fluorescence intensities were estimated semiquantitatively. The basic cytoarchitecture of the monoamine neurons present in the rat is present also in man. It is found that there are descending bulbospinal noradrenaline and 5-HT systems, as well as ascending NA and 5-HT systems reaching almost all areas of the brain, having their cell bodies in the lower brain stem.