Immunoautoradiographic studies on the distribution of dopamine transporter in diffrerent regions of postmortem human brain / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective Immunoreactive intensity of dopamine transporter(DAT)was quantitatively analyzed in the different regions of postmortem human brain in order to provide evidence in selecting an appropriate reference region for neuroimaging in measurement of the altered DAT.Methods The brain tissue blocks taken from 8 male cadavers were paraffin-embedded and sectioned,and immunoautoradiography was used to display the difference of DAT immunoreactive intensity in the substantia nigra,putamen and caudate nucleus,cingulate cortex,frontal cortex,occipital cortex and cerebellar cortex.Results The highest DAT density was found mainly in the substantia nigra,caudate nucleus and putamen,while the lowest density was only seen in cerebellar cortex.Quantitative analysis revealed that the intensity of DAT immunoreactivity(DAT-IR)in cerebellar cortex was respectively 1/3.50,1/3.72,1/1.28 of that in frontal cortex,cingulate cortex and occipital cortex,and it was only 1/8.33,1/11.67,1/8.56 that of substantia nigra,caudate nucleus and putamen.Conclusions The cerebellar cortex has the lowest DAT as compared to other examined brain regions,and it can be used for a reference region in neuroimaging to detect altered DAT.