Thalamocortical cells in the cat pulvinar nucleus transiently express nitric oxide synthase during development

We examined the postnatal expression of the neuronal form of nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) within the pulvinar and lateral posterior (LP) nuclei of the cat thalamus using immunocytochemical techniques. During the first postnatal month, nNOS was expressed in many cells within the pulvinar nucleus and medial subdivision of the LP nucleus; fewer neurons in the lateral LP nucleus were stained by the nNOS antibody. We examined the pulvinar nucleus to determine what cell types express nNOS. A comparison of the soma sizes of nNOS-stained cells to the overall population of Nissl-stained cells and interneurons (stained with an antibody against glutamic acid decarboxylase) suggests that within the pulvinar nucleus, thalamocortical cells express nNOS during development. In addition, the nNOS antibody stained axon bundles that traverse the pulvinar nucleus to enter the optic radiations, suggesting that thalamocortical cell axons also contain nNOS during development. However, this staining pattern was dramatically reduced by postnatal day 42 and later ages; the size of the remaining nNOS-stained cells was closer to that of interneurons, a subset of which contain nNOS in the adult pulvinar nucleus. This contrasts with our previous findings that nNOS is specifically expressed within interneurons in the developing dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and serves as further confirmation that the pulvinar nucleus and LGN represent distinct categories of thalamic nuclei.