5-hydroxytryptamine immunoreactive varicosities in the lamprey spinal cord have no synaptic specializations--an...

The distribution and fine structure of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) immunoreactive cell bodies and axonal varicosities have been studied in the lamprey spinal cord, using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) immunohistochemical technique and subsequent analysis of ultrathin serial sections. Immunostained cell bodies were found in the ventral spinal cord close to the central canal. Immunostained varicosities were found throughout the spinal cord with the highest density in the ventromedial plexus and the dorsal horn. Only large granular vesicles could be clearly distinguished in immunostained cell bodies and varicosities, but it was concluded based on a comparison with unstained normal tissue that these boutons also contained small, pleomorphic agranular vesicles. Immunoreactive varicosities were studied in the ventromedial plexus, the dorsal horn, the dorsal column, the dorsolateral and ventrolateral funiculi and the grey matter. No morphological differences could be observed between varicosities in the different loci. The varicosities were in no case seen to make synaptic contact with surrounding neuronal elements, even when followed through serial sections. Consequently, 5-HT released from boutons in all parts of the spinal cord could be expected to act on 5-HT receptors located on nearby as well as distant receptors.