Histochemical protein markers of monoamine cell bodies in man

Neurons in brainstem and hypothalamus of postmortem, formaldehyde-fixed tissue of 25 healthy controls were studied with a double-staining procedure for the consecutive demonstration of Nissl material and of cytoplasmic spherical bodies, which are rich in basic proteins. The investigation established that the protein bodies are located in cells that correspond to the aminergic neurons demonstrable by histofluorescence. Protein bodies were also found in the neurons of the inferior olive, which are not as a rule included in the aminergic cell groups. The localization of protein bodies is perikaryal and dendritic and, thus, parallels the distribution of monoamines and monoamine-synthesizing enzymes reported in experimental animals. The invariable presence of protein bodies in all aminergic perikarya of control human brains and their absence from nonaminergic neurons permits us to consider them markers of monoamine neurons in man.