引用

枕核复合体在皮层区域间信息的处理和传递中起着关键作用。这个核接受来自主要感觉系统的不同区域的输入，如皮层，并投射到大脑皮层的联想区域，因此被认为是一个联想核。这种结构在啮齿动物或其他小型哺乳动物中无法识别。然而，在灵长类动物或枕叶复合体中，它占据了丘脑的大部分，是皮层下视觉系统的组成部分，因为它接受来自视网膜和上丘的传入，并显示新皮层的各个区域的必要通知。根据神经密度和纤维分布，该结构有四个细分区域:下、内侧、外侧和前三个区域，其中前三个区域与视觉处理有关。衰老包括生物有机体的变化，与它的时间进化直接相关，没有任何已知的疾病机制。另一方面，衰老可以定义为基于病理生理机制影响个体一生的条件。因此，衰老可以被描述为一个生理功能下降的生物过程，包括与认知能力下降相关的神经系统变化，个体在老年时可能受到神经退行性疾病的影响。绒猴(Callithrix jacchus)是一种白天习惯和视觉引导的新世界灵长类动物，由于其与人类的系统发育接近，被用于生物医学研究。我们的目标是通过在成年动物和老年动物两组之间进行比较分析，展示它们的细分，并确定神经元、轴突末梢和胶质细胞的分布和该复合体的细分，对该物种的枕核复合体进行细胞结构的表征。 For this purpose, histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques were used, as well as intraocular injection of neuronal tracker to display as subdivisions, neuronal distribution, glial cells, and currently complex fibers/terminals. All experiments were approved by the Animal Use Ethics Committee of UFRN (CEUA-UFRN Nº. 009.013/2017). Our results confirm the presence of subdivisions in the pulvinar complex in the anterior pulvinar nucleus (APul), medial pulvinar nucleus (MPul), lateral pulvinar nucleus (LPul) and inferior pulvinar nucleus (IPul) presenting the latter four subnuclei: inferior pulvinar centromedial (IpulCM), inferior medial pulvinar (IPulM) and posterior inferior pulvinar (IPulP). The pulvinar complex presents along its rostrocaudal extension, immunoreactive neurons to the specific neuronal nuclear protein (NeuN), the calcium binding protein calbindin (CB), besides glial cells immunoreactive to the glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP). Data in elderly animals differ from adult animals, as older animals have a lower intensity of cell labeling in NeuN and CB and a lower intensity of labeling in GFAP. The presence of immunoreactive fibers/terminals in the subunit b of the cholera toxin (CTb) was well evidenced in the IPul only in the medial subnucleus, contralateral to the injected eye, characterizing the presence of direct retinal projection in this nucleus. In older animals, a retinal projection shows discrete when compared to adults animals. Despite being a qualitative study, our data indicate differences between adult and elderly animals, suggesting that the pulvinar complex may suffer a significant loss of functional character during the processing of visual information.