Retrograde transport of sodium selenite and intracellular injection of micro-ruby: a combined method to describe the morphology of zinc-rich neurones.

Abstract Zinc is found in synaptic vesicles in a large number of glutamatergic systems. Its involvement in neurotransmission and neurological disorders has been suggested. There are methods for tracing these circuits, but they do not fill the dendritic tree. In this study, extracellular selenite injections in vivo were combined with intracellular injection of fluorochromes in fixed tissue to reveal the morphology of these zinc-rich neurones. Intraperitoneal and intracerebral injections of sodium selenite alone or intracerebral injections of selenite combined with bisbenzimide were made in the visual cortex of the rat in order to locate the somata of zinc-rich neurones. After 24 h of retrogr…