Cytochrome oxidase (CO) histochemistry has been used to reveal the cytoarchitecture of the primate brain, including blobs/puffs/patches in the striate cortex (V1), and thick, thin and pale stripes in the middle layer of the secondary visual cortex (V2). It has been suggested that CO activity is coupled with the spiking activity of neurons, implying that neurons in these CO-rich subcompartments are more active than surrounding regions. However, we have discussed possibility that CO histochemistry represents the distribution of thalamo-cortical afferent terminals that generally use vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2) as their main glutamate transporter, and not the activity of cortical neurons. In this study, we systematically compared the labeling patterns observed between CO histochemistry and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for VGLUT2 from the system to microarchitecture levels in the visual cortex of squirrel monkeys. The two staining patterns bore striking similarities at all levels of the visual cortex, including the honeycomb structure of V1 layer 3B (Brodmann’s layer 4A), the patchy architecture in the deep layers of V1, the superficial blobs of V1, and the V2 stripes. The microarchitecture was more evident in VGLUT2 IHC, as expected. VGLUT2 protein expression that produced specific IHC labeling is thought to originate from the thalamus since the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and the pulvinar complex both show high expression levels of VGLUT2 mRNA, but cortical neurons do not. These observations support our theory that the subcompartments revealed by CO histochemistry represent the distribution of thalamo-cortical afferent terminals in the primate visual cortex.

中文翻译：

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囊性谷氨酸转运蛋白2的免疫反应性对应于松鼠猴视觉皮层中富含细胞色素氧化酶的小室。

细胞色素氧化酶（CO）的组织化学已被用来揭示灵长类动物大脑的细胞结构，包括条纹皮层（V1）中的斑点/粉扑/斑块，以及次级视觉皮层（V2）中层中的厚，薄和浅条纹）。已经提出，CO活性与神经元的突波活性结合，这意味着这些富含CO的子小室中的神经元比周围区域更活跃。但是，我们已经讨论了CO组织化学代表通常使用囊泡谷氨酸转运蛋白2（VGLUT2）作为其主要谷氨酸转运蛋白的丘脑皮质传入末端的分布，而不是皮质神经元活性的可能性。在这项研究中，我们系统地比较了从系统中VGLUT2的CO组织化学和免疫组化（IHC）之间的标记模式与松鼠猴视觉皮层中的微体系结构水平。这两种染色模式在视觉皮层的各个层面上都具有惊人的相似性，包括V1层3B honey（Brodmann层4A）的蜂窝结构，V1的深层中的斑驳结构，V1的浅层斑点和V2条纹。如预期的那样，微体系结构在VGLUT2 IHC中更为明显。产生特异性IHC标记的VGLUT2蛋白表达被认为起源于丘脑，因为外侧膝状核（LGN）和肺泡复合物均显示VGLUT2 mRNA的高表达水平，而皮层神经元则没有。