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Updated: Mar 28, 2026

Imaging Serotonergic Fibers in the Mouse Spinal Cord Using the CLARITY/CUBIC Technique
Published on: February 26, 2016
Serotonergic projections from the raphe nuclei to the subthalamic nucleus; a retrograde- and anterograde neuronal
Martin Reznitsky1, Per Plenge2, Anders Hay-Schmidt3
1Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Panum Institute 24.2, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen O, Denmark.
Abstract:
The objective of this study is to establish which subdivision of the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) supplies serotonergic projections to the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in the rat brain. Several studies in recent years have shown that serotonin (5-HT) might have a therapeutic role in the most prevalent basal ganglia (BG) movement disorder, Parkinson's disease (PD), but, because of the depletion of dopaminergic input to the BG, l-DOPA has been the main treatment for PD patients. Autoradiography showed that serotonin receptors 5-HT1B and 5-HT2C and the serotonin transporter were present in STN, whereas the 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A not were present. Retrograde tracer FluoroGold or Choleratoxin subunit B were iontophoretically delivered in the STN and combined with immunohistochemistry for 5-HT in order to map the topographic organization in the dorsal raphe system. The study showed that approximately 320+/-137 neurons were retrogradely traced from each STN to the DRN, located mainly in the dorsal- and ventrolateral DRN, and of these 108+/-42 or 34% co-localized 5-HT. Additionally anterograde tracer PHA-L was injected in the DRN to confirm projections to STN and accordingly only a sparse number of axon terminals were observed in the STN.
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