Ultrastructural and morphometric features of the acetylcholine innervation in adult rat parietal cortex: An electron microscopic study in serial sections

This study was aimed at characterizing the ultrastructural morphology of the normal acetylcholine (ACh) innervation in adult rat parietal cortex. After immunostaining with a monoclonal antibody against purified rat brain choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), more than 100 immunoreactive axonal varicosities (terminals) from each layer of the Par 1 area were photographed and examined in serial thin sections across their entire volume. These varicosities were relatively small, averaging 0.6 μm in diameter, 1.6 μM2 in surface, and 0.12 μM3 in volume. In every layer, a relatively low proportion exhibited a synaptic membrane differentiation (10% in layer I, 14% in II–III, 11% in IV, 21% in V, 14% in VI), for a I–VI average of 14%. These synaptic junctions were usually single, symmetrical (>99%), and occupied a small portion of the surface of varicosities (<3%). A majority were found on dendritic branches (76%), some on spines (24%), and none on cell bodies. On the whole, the ACh junctional varicosities were significantly larger than their nonjunctional counterparts, and both synaptic and nonsynaptic varicosities could be observed on the same fiber.