SYNAPTIC CONNECTIONS OF NEURONS IDENTIFIED BY GOLGI IMPREGNATION - CHARACTERIZATION BY IMMUNOCYTOCHEMICAL, ENZYME HISTOCHEMICAL, AND DEGENERATION METHODS

For more than a century the Golgi method has been providing structural information about the organization of neuronal networks. Recent developments allow the extension of the method to the electron microscopic analysis of the afferent and efferent synaptic connections of identified, Golgiimpregnated neurones. The introduction of degeneration, autoradiographic, enzyme histochemical, and immunocytochemical methods for the characterization of Golgiimpregnated neurones and their preand postsynaptic partners makes it possible to establish the origin and also the chemical composition of preand postsynaptic elements. Furthermore, for a direct correlation of structure and function the synaptic interconnections between physiologically characterized, intracellularly HRPfilled neurones and Golgiimpregnated cells can be studied. It is thought that most of the neuronal communication takes place at the synaptic junction. In the enterprise of unravelling the circuits underlying the synaptic interactions, the Golgi technique continues to be a powerful tool of analysis. Copyright1990 WileyLiss, Inc.