Distribution of neurotransmitter receptors and zinc in the pigeon (Columba livia) hippocampal formation: A basis for further comparison with the mammalian hippocampus

ABSTRACT The avian hippocampal formation (HF) and mammalian hippocampus share a similar functional role in spatial cognition, but the underlying neuronal mechanisms allowing the functional similarity are incompletely understood. To understand better the organization of the avian HF and its transmitter receptors, we analyzed binding site densities for glutamatergic AMPA, NMDA, and kainate receptors; GABAA receptors; muscarinic M1, M2 and nicotinic (nACh) acetylcholine receptors; noradrenergic α1 and α2 receptors; serotonergic 5‐HT1A receptors; dopaminergic D1/5 receptors by using quantitative in vitro receptor autoradiography. Additionally, we performed a modified Timm staining procedure to label zinc. The regionally different receptor densities mapped well onto seven HF subdivisions previously described. Several differences in receptor expression highlighted distinct HF subdivisions. Notable examples include 1) high GABAA and α1 receptor expression, which rendered distinctive ventral subdivisions; 2) high α2 receptor expression, which rendered distinctive a dorsomedial subdivision; 3) distinct kainate, α2, and muscarinic receptor densities that rendered distinctive the two dorsolateral subdivisions; and 4) a dorsomedial region characterized by high kainate receptor density. We further observed similarities in receptor binding densities between subdivisions of the avian and mammalian HF. Despite the similarities, we propose that 300 hundred million years of independent evolution has led to a mosaic of similarities and differences in the organization of the avian HF and mammalian hippocampus and that thinking about the avian HF in terms of the strict organization of the mammalian hippocampus is likely insufficient to understand the HF of birds. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:2553–2575, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. By using receptor autoradiography for 11 different neurotransmitter receptors and zinc labeling, the authors mapped the hippocampal formation in the pigeon's brain (A). Comparisons between receptor densities in the pigeon and in the mammalian hippocampal formation (B) showed similarities (indicated by the same colors) between subdivisions in the two species.