Morphological characterization of the rat striatal neurons expressing calcineurin immunoreactivity

Calcineurin, a multifunctional Ca2+ (divalent cations)-dependent calmodulin-stimulated phosphoprotein phosphatase, has been reported to be present in the striatal neurons which project to the globus pallidus and the substantia nigra. In the present study, we examined what types of cells in the rat striatum express calcineurin. The calcineurin-positive neurons were of medium size (mean diameter of 16 microns) and constituted about 60-70% of the total neuronal population in the striatum. Under light microscopy, the calcineurin-positive neurons had round, triangular, or polygonal cell bodies with a relatively small amount of cytoplasm. Electron microscopic examination of 20 randomly selected striatal calcineurin-immunoreactive neurons revealed that their nuclei did not show any invaginations or intranuclear inclusions. The calcineurin-positive neurons were characterized by Golgi impregnation as the densely spinous type. On the other hand, it was demonstrated that calcineurin-positive neurons are a separate population from the diisopropylfluorophosphate-acetylcholinesterase-positive cells or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase-positive cells, by means of the combination of immunocytochemistry and enzyme histochemistry. In addition, simultaneous localization of calcineurin and substance P in a single cell was observed in some striatal neurons using a double immunostaining method. On the basis of these findings, it was considered that most calcineurin-immunoreactive neurons in the rat striatum may be classified as medium-size densely spiny neurons.