Somatostatin (SST) is widely expressed in the brain and plays various, vital roles involved in neuromodulation. The purpose of this study is to characterize the organization of SST neurons in the Mongolian gerbil visual cortex (VC) using immunocytochemistry, quantitative analysis, and confocal microscopy. As a diurnal animal, the Mongolian gerbil provides us with a different perspective to other commonly used nocturnal rodent models. In this study, SST neurons were located in all layers of the VC except in layer I; they were most common in layer V. Most SST neurons were multipolar round/oval or stellate cells. No pyramidal neurons were found. Moreover, 2-color immunofluorescence revealed that only 33.50%, 24.05%, 16.73%, 0%, and 64.57% of SST neurons contained gamma-aminobutyric acid, calbindin-D28K, calretinin, parvalbumin, and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, respectively. In contrast, neuropeptide Y and nitric oxide synthase were abundantly expressed, with 80.07% and 75.41% in SST neurons, respectively. Our immunocytochemical analyses of SST with D1 and D2 dopamine receptors and choline acetyltransferase, α7 and β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors suggest that dopaminergic and cholinergic fibers contact some SST neurons. The results showed some distinguishable features of SST neurons and provided some insight into their afferent circuitry in the gerbil VC. These findings may support future studies investigating the role of SST neurons in visual processing.
Keywords: Mongolian gerbil; calcium-binding proteins; calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II; dopamine receptors; gamma-aminobutyric acid; immunocytochemistry; nicotinic cholinergic receptors; somatostatin; visual cortex.