[PECULIARITIES OF THE STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF VENTRAL POSTEROMEDIAL, VENTRAL POSTEROLATERAL, AND RETICULAR NUCLEI OF RAT THALAMUS (AN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY)

The aim of this work was an immunohistochemical study of the expression of neuronal and glial proteins, and of gap junctions proteins (connexin 36, connexin 43) in ventral posteromedial (VPMN), ventral posterolateral (VPLN) and reticular (RТN) nuclei of the thalamus in rats. It was found that VPMN and VPLN of the thalamus were characterized by a homogeneous distribution of synaptophysin, grouped arrangement of astrocytes, horizontal orientation of somatostatincontaining myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers, forming the bundles, and running through the barreloid septum, expression of connexin 36 and 43 as well as of parvalbumin revealing barreloids in 4 μm-thick sections. In RTN the content of myelin basic protein, neurofilaments, parvalbumin, and somatostatin was increased, while the amount of glial fibrillary acidic protein and connexin 43 was moderate, and synaptophysin and connexin 36 were absent.