Leucine-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity in the chicken retina with a special reference to its fine structures

Leucine-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity (LEI) in the chicken retina was investigated using light and electron microscopic immunohistochemistry. A flat-mount technique for light microscopy clearly demonstrated that LEI cells were distributed widely throughout the entire retina, without any differences between the central and peripheral retinal regions. Frozen sections for light microscopy confirmed the previous findings in pigeons that LEI is localized in amacrine cells. The present electron microscopic observations confirmed the findings of light microscopy and revealed that LEI terminals make synaptic contract mainly with vesicle-containing processes that seemed to belong to the amacrine cells. The present study further suggests that LEI terminals are both pre- and postsynaptic elements onto vesicle-containing processes mentioned above.