Glutamate decarboxylase immunoreactivity in the hippocampus of the cat: distribution of immunoreactive synaptic terminals with special reference to the axon initial segment of pyramidal neurons

Golgi-impregnated and gold-toned preparations of cat hippocampus were studied under the light and electron microscope in order to characterize synapses in contact with the axon initial segments of pyramidal neurons. The initial segment of the axon emits spine-like appendages and it was sometimes seen to be in apparent contact with thin varicose fibers that climbed along it. The latter type of varicose axon terminal segments occurred at the base of pyramidal neurons in all regions of the hippocampus and in the subiculum: they are 20 to 40 w long, contain 3 to 15 varicose swellings, and are interconnected by thin horizontal or arcadic fibers. It was established by electron microscopy of gold-toned material that light microscopically identified varicosities of these terminal segments were in symmetrical synaptic contact exclusively with axon initial segments; four of the initial segments in the CA1 region could be traced back to pyramidal neurons. Thus the pyramidal cell of the cat hippocampus receives input along its axon initial segment from boutons that probably originate from axoaxonic cells of the type found previously in the cerebral cortex and monkey hippocampus.