Selective Staining of Visceral Efferents in the Rat Brain Stem by a Modified Koelle Technique

Abstract

THE histochemical technique for cholinesterases introduced by Koelle and Friedenwald¹ has been used in numerous studies of nervous tissue. Much of this work has been concerned primarily either with the histochemistry of the method or with the cytological distribution of enzyme revealed. This method has, we feel, also great potentialities in the field of neuroanatomy—as a means of selectively staining particular groups of neurones which cannot otherwise be distinguished by more conventional methods. Some attempts along these lines have been made in studies of peripheral innervation^2,3, but it is in studies of the central nervous system that there is particular need for a selective staining method. This communication is therefore concerned not so much with enumerating our detailed findings in this preliminary investigation as with emphasizing the potential value of this technique in solving many neurological problems which have so far resisted attack by more conventional methods.