Parvalbumin immunoreactivity changes in the thalamic reticular nucleus during the maturation of the rat's brain

The thalamic reticular nucleus (Rt) is a thin lamina of cells, through which thalamocortical and corticothalamic fibers pass. It is interposed between the thalamic nuclei and the internal capsule and it is composed of GABA-ergic cells with synapses that receive impulses from both kinds of fibers. Rt takes part in the negative feed-back system of controlling the information transfer from the thalamus to the cerebral cortex and it is focused in the sleep-waking cycle. The pattern of parvalbumin reactivity during maturation of Rt becomes the main aim of our study. The study was performed on 36 rats on various postnatal days (P0, P1, P2, P4, P5, P7, P10, P14, P17, P21, P30 and P90). The animals were anesthetized, transcardially perfused, cut on cryostat into 30-microns-thick frontal sections, stained immunocytochemically using standard ABC method and a mouse monoclonal antibody against parvalbumin. A small amount of round and oval, parvalbumin immunopositive cells was detected at stage PO, predominantly in the intermediate part of Rt, whereas the cells in ventral and lateral part at the same time were only slightly immunopositive. At P10 the cells in the intermediate part became more fusiform or oval because of the appearance of dendrites. At P14 we were able to observe separate, punctuated structures interpreted as the axonal endings. There were plenty of them at the time of full maturation of the intermediate portion of reticular nucleus (stage P21). At this time, the dorsal and ventral parts had their first synapses, too, but their maturation ended a week later. At P30 multipolar neurons, with round and fusiform somata were distributed relatively homogeneously throughout Rt. We compared the stage with the parvalbumin reactivity of the adult rat and found no difference in the morphological pattern of PV neurons.